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Rival clans spill blood over land dispute
Story by LUCAS BARASA and SIMBI KUSIMBA
Publication Date: 4/3/2007
Land clashes in Mt Elgon District have been boiling since early last year when the Government allocated people land at the Chebyuk Settlement Scheme.
A total of 1732 plots measuring two and half acres each were allocated to 1000 families though more than 7000 applied for land.
The plots were given to mainly members of the Ndorobo clan of the Sabaot community who had also benefited from Phase I and Phase II of the land during the Kanu regime, displacing and leaving out those from the Soy clan who have been leaving in the area since the 1970s.
The move was met by opposition from the Soy clan members who have been fighting with the Ndorobos over land.
Fight for rights
Most of the displaced took refuge deep inside the forest and vowed to fight for their land rights.
The group calling itself Sabaot Land Defence Force has been launching attacks from forests leading to deaths.
Anglican Church of Kenya priest the Maritim Rirei and official Leonard Ndiema said the fighting was political.
“It used to be based on land resources but turned political and requires political solution,” the Rev Rirei said.
The two accused a local politician of ensuring that only his supporters benefited from the land “as a way of punishing locals for opposing the proposed new Constitution during last year’s referendum.”
Other residents also accuse a local politician of favouring the Ndorobos in land allocation although he hails from the Soy clan in order to win political support.
Most of the attacks are believed to be by members of the militia operating from Mt Elgon forest.
In January, a spokesman of the terror group presented a raft of demands to journalists for the Government to act on before they stop the violence which has seen an estimated 40,000 families displaced.
The militia group whose second in command was identified only as “Matekwoi” demanded immediate arrest of Mt Elgon MP John Serut for allegedly fanning ethnic animosity. The MP has denied the claim.
Genuine squatters
They also called for transfer of Western PC Abdul Mwasera, local DC, all district officers and senior security personnel.
Furthermore, the group asked that the allocation of land in Phase III of the Chebyuk Settlement Scheme be halted and “genuine” squatters settled.
The group claimed to have hundreds of fighters, threatened to unleash violence in neighbouring districts “with full cabinet ministers so the Government which they serve can take notice and address anomalies they have pointed out without success”.
On land allocation in Kopsiro division, Pastor Francis Rure of the International Revival Church, Huruma, said: “This is the problem because civil servants did not conduct it fairly. They were to give out 1732 plots of 2.5 acres apiece but they ended up creating 5,000 plots of 2.5 acres.
"These they sold through brokers at between Sh20,000 and Sh30, 000 instead of giving it to deserving cases. This is true of plots in Chepkurkur and Korng’ontuny sub locations.”
The Church leader added: “To make matters worse, people who had settled here long time ago were uprooted by security personnel to make way for new comers with the support of the local MP. Even those who paid administrators and other government officials to gain favours, missed out. That is why they have gone to the forest to fight for their rights.”
Mzee Michael Ngeywo of Emia who is among hundreds uprooted from their farm, accused a local politician of fanning the chaos. A group of elders asked the Government to deploy additional security personnel to quell the violence.
Mr Eliud Kiai from Kopsiro division, Mr Ngononin arap Chebonya and Mr Joseph Purko of Cheptais division asked the State to grant amnesty to the fighters camping in the forest “so they could surrender without fear of arrest” in order to end the violence
“The Government should issue title deeds to people who have been residing in Chebyuk since 1971 without discrimination. President Kenyatta and former Mt Elgon MP, the late Daniel Moss, completed the work. The new formula for allocations is null and void because it will never work, it is what has sparked off the clashes,” said Mr Kiai.
Issues raised
He posed: “Why should people who have lived in Chebyuk for more than 35 years be evicted?. They said the administrators were not impartial since they have been bending low to accommodate Mr Serut’s demands instead of addressing issues raised.”
Western Kenya Human Rights Watch executive director Job Bwonya said “some powerful politicians from the Rift Valley and Mt Elgon have mooted a strategy to cause instability through violence and alter the political demography of multi-ethnic districts ahead of the General Election like in 1992 and 1997.”
Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi urged the government to curb the violence.
“They have chosen Mt Elgon forest because it a safe exit to a neighbouring country where their kinsmen who are part of the plot reside,” he
said.
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