Rumuruti: More than 100 squatters from Rumuruti in Laikipia County have protested over claims of being left out of a land allocation exercise. They alleged that the seven-year-old resettlement struggle was hijacked by senior county officials allocating themselves land meant for the squatters.

According to Kenya News Agency, the squatters gathered in Rumuruti, paralyzing normal business operations for hours on Friday. They called on the National Land Commission (NLC) to nullify the list of allocation of 2,141 pieces of land, as the majority of them have been left out. Joseph Ole Nanywi, a squatter in Rumuruti, stated, "We appeal to the NLC for their intervention in addressing these injustices; the vulnerable have been undermined by the county leadership. Enough is enough, this is our land and we stand firm."

Rebecca Lekenya remarked that the department of land in the county interfered with the squatters' genuine list, resulting in them being short-changed. She claimed that devolved units, including CECM members, prominent traders, contractors, and private schools, have been allocated dozens of acres of public land. "We are saddened as the genuine squatters of Kandura who were supposed to benefit from the allocation exercise. Our right has been undermined by the very leaders we elected, we condemn it," she lamented.

Laikipia County Assembly majority leader John Gichuki Maina, who is also the Rumuruti Ward MCA, admitted that he was unknowingly allocated a piece of land and expressed willingness to surrender it to the underprivileged. "The genuine squatters have been left out in the allocation of the land; the allocation was done to rich people, big companies which are not even from here. I was unknowingly given one," the Majority leader revealed. He emphasized that they would not relent until the land allocation stalemate is addressed and the genuine squatters receive their rightful share of the land.

The protesters claimed that no public participation took place prior to the allocation as required by law, and that the list released last week by the National Land Commission was a substitute for the initial one, omitting the names of more than 1,500 squatters who have been on land owned by the Prisons Department. Efforts to reach Laikipia County NLC coordinator Grace Wairagu and the CECM in charge of lands Ekwam Nabos for a response were futile, as calls and messages went unanswered by the time of filing this story.

The land allocation exercise for the squatters started in 2018 with the county government submitting a controversial list of beneficiaries, which was contested in court. When Governor Joshua Irungu was elected in 2002, he prevailed upon the squatters to withdraw the court case with a promise of fair distribution to the landless.