A case filed against the government at a continental court seeks repossession of land earmarked for the Naivasha Special Economic Zone and gifted to neighbouring countries to establish dry ports.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has notified President Kenyatta of the suit lodged by the Maasai community and communicated temporary orders it wants enforced pending its determination.
The government has been restrained from gazetting the disputed land, stopped from evicting members of Kitet (Kedong) Maasais residing on it and told to suspend implementation of the Naivasha Special Economic Zone Master Plan or any related project undertaken without consultation of the community.
This latest case has deepened the controversy surrounding the ownership of the 75,000-acre Kedong ranch at the border of Narok, Nakuru, Kiambu and Kajiado counties on which also sit multibillion-shilling geothermal power projects.
Maasai land activist William Sipai and 13 other representatives of Keekonyokie clan from the Kitet area in Suswa have lodged the case at The Gambia-based human rights body, insisting it’s their ancestral land.
It marks escalation of the legal battles that have played out in Kenyan courts over the ownership. The land is estimated to be worth Sh20 billion and hosts the dry port in Naivasha.
The government has allocated itself 1,000 acres and gifted 1,000 acres each to Uganda and South Sudan for the construction of dry ports.
The community had previously sought to stop their eviction and block the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR) through the ranch.
In a letter dated October 28, the chairperson of the Commission, Mr Solomon Ayele Derso, wrote to President Kenyatta informing him of the complaint registered under communication number 763/21, which protested against the alleged land rights violations against the community.
“The details of the complaint reveal that there is risk of irreparable harm being caused if the planned eviction of the Kidong Maasai were to be implemented in the face of the alleged violations, which are subject to examination in accordance with Section 4 of the Commission Rules of Procedure and Article 55 of the African Charter,” it reads.
Eviction and harassment
The government is “to refrain from any act or thing that would or might irreparably prejudice the main communication before the Commission, until the final determination of the communication, including, but not limited to: the gazettement of the disputed land and the eviction and harassment of the complainants, their families and all other members of the Kitet (Kedong) Maasai community residing on the land”.
Mr Derso further asks President Kenyatta to suspend the implementation of the Naivasha Special Economic Zone “without the consultation and participation of the complainants, their families and the community they represent”.
“Your Excellency, I would like to indicate that the grant of provisional measures does not in any way affect the final position of the commission on the communication, but considering the commitment of the Republic of Kenya to the cause of human rights, including through the ratification of the African Charter, I have no doubt that the present request for provisional measures will be followed by a positive response,” Mr Derso states.
The Commission, on the same day, October 28, wrote to lawyer Duncan Ojwang of the Nazarene University School of Law in Nairobi, confirming acceptance of the petition.
“Kindly be informed that pursuant to Rule 116(1) of the Rules of Procedure 2020, you are required to submit arguments and evidence on the admissibility and merits of this communication within 60 days of this notification,” wrote Ms Lindiwe Khumalo, the acting Executive Secretary to the ACHPR Secretariat.
Dr Ojwang filed the complaint on July 15. Ms Khumalo replied on September 16 to acknowledge receipt and assure the complaint “will be processed in accordance with Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure” of the ACHPR (2020).
In May 2019, the government had revealed that it had acquired 1,000 acres in the area as part of the Naivasha Special Economic Zone.
In June, the establishment of the economic zone received a boost after the government allocated Sh20.5 billion for the manufacturing sector for the financial year 2021/22.
The Treasury also allocated Sh350 million for development of the Naivasha Industrial Park, Kenanie Leather Industrial Park and Athi River Textile Hub.
The push and pull over the land is informed by political and commercial interests. The disputed land is at the core of the country’s source of geothermal energy.
A significant portion of the ranch has geothermal capability. The exploratory area is quite expansive, traversing great lengths of the Rift Valley Basin from Lake Magadi, Suswa, Longonot, Olkaria, Eburru, Lake Baringo and Menengai.
Extraction of this clean energy is a multibillion-dollar industry and those who own the land would line up for a share of compensation billions. On Christmas eve, some members of Kitet community in Naivasha staged a demonstration to reject some 4,000 acres given to them by Kedong ranch management in July last year to move out of their homes.
In a meeting at Kitet Primary School, the members claimed four unnamed but well-known people entered into an “illegal” deal with Kedong ranch management to seize their land. Mr Sipai, Mr Pimwa Kikanae and Mr Joseph ole Tatiyia said the deal was done without the knowledge of more than 30,000 members of the Kitet community.
“We’re now aware that the four men went round our backs and entered into an illegal deal with the ranch management. The deal was meant to entice us to withdraw our land case in court,” Mr Sipai said.
A five-foot trench
He said the land, like other parcels claimed by the community, was annexed after the great Maasai Laibon Lenana signed an agreement with the British settler community members who lived in Kedong in 1904.
Mr Sipai argued the agreement provided that the land be returned to the Kitet community once the colonialists were done with it.
He said when the British settlers left after Independence, the Kitet continued to live on their land until 1972 when the Muguga Company leased it to fatten steers.
But soon after Muguga Company acquired the 75,000 acres, they changed the name to Kedong ranch. For more than 40 years, the community has been fighting for this land in the courts.
The farm is being guarded round the clock by armed police officers who drive in every morning in trucks without number plates.
A five-foot trench has been dug around the land. The residents say they are forced to use one exit while going to hospital because of the trench. BY DAILY NATION