Hope for Mbale evictees as resettlement probe begins
The Senate has launched a probe into the delayed degazettement of the 40-acre Musunji-Shaviringa Settlement Scheme to compensate the over 300 families who gave up their lands to allow the government to establish a district headquarters in Mbale in 1985.
The government acquired the parcels of land in a plan to establish the Vihiga District headquarters. At the time, the families were promised double the 30 acres they gave up but, more than three decades later, this is yet to materialise and they are still living as squatters in Shaviringa and neither own nor can they develop the land.
The families had last month threatened to march to Mbale, some 24 kilometres away, and forcefully reclaim the land that currently hosts, among others, the county police headquarters, Vihiga County Referral Hospital, Mbale Rural Hospital, Vihiga GK Prison, municipal offices, the municipal market and houses for civil servants.
The Senate Standing Committee on Lands has been tasked with investigating the delayed survey, degazettement and award of title deeds at the settlement scheme.
The probe follows a statement made in the Senate by Mr Godfrey Osotsi (Vihiga) asking the Lands Committee to establish an inquiry into the status of a government commitment to resolve the long-standing dispute.
The committee is expected to establish reasons for the "inordinate delay to alter boundaries of the Kakamega and Kibiri forests" to exclude the scheme and allow settlers to legally own the land.
Mr Osotsi said the altering of boundaries was part of the "land exchange programme" initiated in 1985 during the creation of the Vihiga District headquarters in Mbale town, which is currently the county headquarters.
The committee will further seek information on the amount of money budgeted for the survey and the status of the environmental impact assessment report that was undertaken by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
Mr Osotsi has further asked the committee to give the status of the ongoing fencing of Kakamega forest "and show whether the scheme is within the cut line."
Presidential decree
On April 1, 2014, then President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered, through a presidential decree, the fast-tracking of the degazettement process, but this has not been implemented nine years later.
Last year, the Ministry of Lands wrote to parliament giving assurances that the process would be hastened but no activity has taken place to date.
"The committee should give reasons why specific recommendations on the irregular allocation of land in the Ndung'u report have not been implemented," said Mr Osotsi.
He added: "The committee should [investigate claims] that certain powerful individuals benefitted from the process and have been undermining efforts to issue titles to [genuine] beneficiaries."
Last month, the evictees asked the national and county administrations to vacate their ancestral land in Mbale town to enable them to reclaim it after over three decades of failed compensation.
Planned demonstrations
Their spokesman, Mr Frederick Igunza, however, told Nation they walked back on the demand and planned demonstrations after they received an undertaking from the Western Regional Commissioner's office assuring them that their grievances were being handled by the government.
Currently, the land in Mbale town is housing the national and county government headquarters that include the offices of the County Commissioner and the governor.
"It is now 38 years and we have not been given title deeds of the land where we were relocated to. This is making us to continue living like squatters with no access to social amenities," Mr Igunza said.
Survey and degazettement of the land to pave way for demarcation, allocation and titling, which kicked off in 2015, has stalled after the National Treasury released only Sh3 million of the budgeted Sh10 million to fund the exercise. BY DAILY NATION
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