Tension as squatters invade ex-MP Criticos land after expiry of lease

Former Taveta MP Basil Criticos speaking to journalists at his Machungwani farm in July 2013 after it was invaded by squatters. [File Courtesy, Standard]

Eleven years after Taveta’s 3,000-acre Machungwani land lease reportedly expired, its ownership status remains in limbo, turning it into a free-for-all as desperate locals have started occupying it.

At least 10,000 squatters have invaded the land formerly owned by a former legislator. They claim the government’s reluctance to determine its status raised tension in the area.

In addition, the squatters claim that influential individuals with vested interests in the rich agricultural land are eyeing it to dispossess them of what is rightfully theirs.

Some of the locals claim to have lived in the area for decades and that the land should now revert to them following the lease expiry.

Taveta MP John Bwire warns that the dispute over the ownership of the land was a ticking time bomb and has asked the government to give the land back to the local community.

“The lease to the land expired, and the government should give us the land to improve our lives,” Bwire told the Internal Security Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, who was on a one-day tour of Taita Taveta County recently.

The CS, however, declined to comment about private farms in the region that occupy about 86 per cent of the total land area.

“I will not talk about private farms,” Murkomen responded when asked by The Standard.

He, however, noted that the heavy presence of squatters remains a major challenge facing the Coast region.

Murkomen noted that the high number of squatters is not only a recipe for chaos but also causes insecurity challenges and social instability in the region, assuring that the government was doing everything possible to adequately address the myriad challenges facing the region for peace and socio-economic development to prevail.

“Competition for land and its resources has been a common factor for years and remains a serious challenge facing the region.

“The squatter problem cuts across the six coastal counties, and we are engaging the Ministry of Lands to address the squatter menace because the presence of squatters has become a recipe for chaos,” Murkomen said in Mwatate town last month.

“Security personnel are working around the clock to effectively dismantle a gang that has frequently been invading private farms in the region,” warned the CS.

Local Members of County Assembly Halifa Taraya (Mboghoni Ward), Isaac Matolo (Mata Ward), Daniel Kinyili (Challa Ward), and Chrispus Tondoo (Bomeni Ward) urged the national government to immediately determine the status of the vast Machungwani Farm, whose lease expired in 2014.

The MCAs said the squatters have vowed never to leave the rich agricultural land.

And efforts by the former administration to get the land back for the settlement of squatters failed.

They wondered why the government is dilly-dallying on the land issues in the region, which has become emotive.

“It is now 11 years down the line since the lease to the disputed land expired, and yet the government is still reluctant to determine its status.

“The more the government delays, the more tension it will create in the area as cases of massive land grabbing continue to thrive,” Taraya told a meeting in Taveta town recently.

He noted that about 90 per cent of the locals are living as squatters as people from outside continue to displace them through corrupt land deals being orchestrated by Ministry of Lands officials and land cartels.

Taraya, in whose ward the disputed land is located, noted that the lack of title deeds among locals is not only to blame for ravaging poverty and food security but also for the rising unemployment rate in the region.

In an earlier interview, former Taveta legislator Basil Criticos, who owned the controversial land, confirmed that he had applied for a lease extension of the land LR No 5827 long ago, and the matter is still being handled by the National Land Commission and the Ministry of Lands and not the county administration.

He disclosed that the former county administration had approved his application for lease extension and warned politicians against inciting residents to invade private property.

The farm with the 30-kilometre Njoro Kubwa canal that passes through it has, of late been at the centre of conflict between the former landowner and squatters.