A community residing on the borders of Kisumu and Kericho counties has threatened to boycott the forthcoming national census over a boundary dispute.
Members of the Nyakach Koguta clan residing in Muhoroni sub-county in Kisumu have vowed not to take part in the national exercise that has been set for the night of August 24 and 25 unless they are counted on the Kisumu side.
Led by the area Ward Representative Julius Genga, the residents who held demonstrations on the Muhoroni –Londiani road on Thursday, demanded that the national exercise be conducted within the boundaries of Kisumu County.
DEVELOPMENT
Mr Genga said the past conflict on administrative boundaries had seen them deprived of government services and development.
“The community elders from Koguta clan have made it clear they have suffered for too long and they will not participate in the census exercise conducted from the precincts of Kericho County because no service or development has been forthcoming from Kericho,” said Mr Genga
The MCA said the community will resist any attempts to have them counted on the Kericho side.
“In the past, the exercise has been conducted under Kericho County merely to add numbers to neighbours in Kericho side. No services and development projects have been forthcoming from the neighbouring county,” he said.
The community claims they have been turned back on several occasions while seeking government services in Kericho.
Citing the recently concluded National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), mass registration exercise dubbed Huduma Namba, the residents claimed officers from Kericho County had attempted to register Koguta clan members under the county.
HUDUMA NAMBA
“They tried to interfere with the process of Huduma Namba but the community resisted their efforts and had the exercise conducted by the local administration in Muhoroni sub-county in Kisumu,” said Mr Genga.
Chairman of Koguta land committee Tom Owuor said the population of the area had grown.
“Our forefathers settled here in 1900 and numbered less than 400 but the population has increased. A huge chunk of our land was handed to Muhoroni Sugar Factory in 1968,” he said.
Mr Owuor claimed that community’s problems have been compounded by their neighbours who now claim part of a 4,000-acre land that was hived off to create Muhoroni Sugar Factory nuclear farms.
“The process to resettle the community has been hampered by political interference, our neighbours in Kericho County are now laying claim to part of this of the land,” claimed Mr Owuor.
MOTION
The locals are demanding that the government fast-tracks the implementation of the National Land Commission gazette notice Number 883 Volume 27 issued on March 1, 2019, that gave a verdict that the Ministry of Lands and the Privatization Commission to return the two parcels of land to the community.
The community says plans to survey and resettle the community on the two parcels of land have attracted a counter-claim by a neighbouring community.
Area MCA Julius Genga had earlier in the month presented a motion in Kisumu County Assembly to have the process fast-tracked.
“We are further planning to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta and relevant bodies to intervene on the process that has taken the community over twenty years,” said Genga.