April 23, 2013
By Jane Gakaria
More than 200 farmers are at the risk of being left homeless after they were given an eviction order to vacate from their farms in Chepchoina village.
The land – on which the farms are located on – is situated on the border of West Pokot and Trans Nzoia Counties. Led by Kapenguria Member of Parliament Samuel Moroto, the locals protested the eviction of genuine land owners and the subdivision of the land so that it could be awarded to other people.
Moroto urged the parliamentary committee on land to probe the eviction as he believed top civil servants were behind the ploy to grab the land which had originally been allocated to residents by previous governments.
Locals also claimed that they had owned the land for more than 15 years and had been given allotment letters by the government to prove their ownership. They further stated that it would be unconstitutional for anyone to evict them from the land without a proper reason or compensation.
Efforts to contact local land officers proved futile since it was not clear whether the land was situated in Trans Nzoia or West Pokot County.
Source: Citizen News
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