Leaders utterances blamed for invasion of Naivasha farm by youth
The Monday attack on farmers by a group of youth has sparked tensions at the 22,000-acre land which belongs to Utheri wa Lari company in Naivasha.
During last weekend’s Building Bridges Initiative rally in Narok, Maasai leaders demanded that the Kedong Ranch in Mai Mahiu, in which Utheri wa Lari land was acquired by members of the Kikuyu community in 1983, revert to the community.
The leaders said the land, which straddles Nakuru and Narok counties, was grabbed by “outsiders”. The ownership dispute has been the subject of protracted court battles and recurring clashes.
In the Monday attack, dozens of youth believed to have been ferried from Narok attacked and injured the farm’s chairman, Stephen Muiru. He was treated at a hospital in Mai Mahiu and discharged.
Besides stoning and damaging Muiru’s car, the youth burned down the farm’s perimeter fence and destroyed crops.
“Over 50 youths who were armed invaded the farm in the morning burning fences and clearing crops. They said we will not be allowed to continue farming on the land because it belongs to their community,” said Muiru.
SGR evictions
He said shareholders of the company, majority of who hail from Lari, Limuru and Kikuyu in Kiambu, were preparing the land for the planting season when the attack happened.
He blamed the attack on utterances by some leaders during the BBI rally in Narok.
“There are people who are being evicted from Suswa because of the SGR project and they have been incited by the leaders who are demanding that they take over 10,000 acres of our land, which we bought from Kedong, as compensation,” he said.
Naivasha police boss Samuel Waweru said adequate security had been deployed to contain the situation.
“We had an incident where some youth tried to block residents from farming but we have sent officers to the ground,” he said.
During the Narok rally, some Maasai politicians, notably Narok senator Ledama Olekina, raised issues of historical land injustices, but used language which some criticised as inflammatory. Ole Kina was arrested yesterday over his statement.
The 75,000 acre-Kedong Ranch, which has been at the centre of court battles between the Maasai community and Muhotetu Farmers Company in Naivasha, is part of the land, which the leaders on Saturday demanded that it revert to the community.
Naivasha MP Jane Kihara linked the invasion to the utterances made by the leaders during the Narok rally.
“The fruits of the skewed BBI rallies can already be seen with some people invading private land,” Kihara said.
But responding to criticism from, among others Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu yesterday, Olekina maintained that all the land in Narok belongs to the Maasai.
“It’s time to annoy some people by telling them the truth! Maasai land belongs to Maasai People...” the senator wrote on Twitter.
