A group of Kandara residents have said Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata has agreed to arbitrate talks between them and Delmonte Kenya over its land lease renewal.
Kandara Residents Associations said they want Senator Kang’ata to initiate talks between its members from Kiambu and Murang’a counties, and all the parties involved in the land lease renewal, including the county and national governments.
The group’s chairman, Phillip Kamau, said on Friday that the negotiations will ensure an amicable solution is arrived at to end the impasse over the company’s land.
“We have approached Kang’ata with the proposal and he has agreed to lead the talksm” Kamau said.
This follows the dismissal of a petition the group had filed in the High Court in Murang’s seeking to stop the lease renewal.
The group wanted a part of the land ceded to the community, claiming it was forcefully taken from their forefathers.
It also claimed the company was in possession of over 7,400 acres whose ownership documents indicated were public land.
In October 2018, the group had told the court it was ready for an out-of-court settlement of the case and indicated its intention to withdraw the case. Justice Grace Kemei thus gave them time to engage with the company with the National Land Commission as the mediator.
The dialogue, however, failed after some parties, who included Murang’a and Kiambu county governments, failed to turn up.
In March last year, NLC published a gazette notice ordering a resurvey of the land and any variance between the leased parcel and the area occupied be surrendered to the group and the county governments on a 70:30 ratio.
Delmonte Kenya’s Managing Director Stergios Gkaliamoutsas welcomed the move to have its land resurveyed, saying it will dispel ‘malicious’ claims that it is farming on more farm than is registered on its tittles.
Gkaliamoutsas said the company strictly farms within the confines of the area demarcated in the deed plans annexed to the title it holds.
Dismissing the petition in May this year, Justice Kemei noted that the matter was already before the NLC and that there were numerous other cases that led to duplication and a ruling on one case may duplicate another.
Kamau, however, told the Star on Friday that they wanted Kang’ata to present the matter before the President for intervention and dialogue started between the parties.
He said there are investors willing to invest billions to assist local youths to invest in agri-business if a part of the land is ceded.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA
“How many youths would 2,000 acres employ? The land would be enough to establish cottage industries,” he said, adding that Delmonte does not use the entire land it occupies.
He further castigated Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina for asking the President to help fast track the land lease renewal for Delmonte Kenya.
The MP last week said the company employs thousands of people who may be jobless and annual revenue of about Sh10 billion lost, if the standoff is not resolved.
But Kamau said the MP should know that the company’s land, which is about 22,000 acres, belonged to locals who were displaced by colonialists.
“Asking the President to disregard our interests and help Delmonte renew its land lease is the highest level of corruption,” he said.