A multi-national agency based mostly in Kimasas, Nandi County, counted its losses after an Setting and Labour court docket ordered it to provide again 350 acres of land to over 600 native squatters.
The squatters and the agency had been embroiled in a authorized battle for over 35 years, ensuing of their eviction from the land in 1996.
Nevertheless, the court docket on Friday, April 21, dominated that the land legitimately belonged to the squatters.
Whereas addressing the media, the jubilated residents expressed delight within the judgment whereas recalling the years of heartache and battle for the land.
A photograph of the Judiciary workplaces positioned in Nairobi.
Photograph
Kenya Judiciary
“After they seized the land, we had been very younger, and it was disheartening to see our mother and father forcefully evicted away.
“On the time, most of us didn’t proceed with schooling previous main college as a consequence of monetary points. Now, that the court docket dominated in our favour, I’ll return to high school,” Stephen Tuwei, a Nandi resident, acknowledged.
As well as, the residents instructed their attorneys to hunt compensation for the struggling the eviction price them and the years of turmoil over the court docket battle.
The squatters acknowledged that they acquired the land from the colonial authorities till 1986, when a multinational agency forcefully seized it. Ten years later, the agency evicted 600 squatters, in keeping with the locals.
In 2017, the squatters drafted a declaration titled the Nandi Hill Declaration of 2017 to induce the county authorities to probe land injustices, whether or not previous or current.
Particularly, the declaration identified that transactions that weren’t within the pursuits of the folks of Nandi County ought to not be recognised as legitimate.
“The Structure doesn’t defend unlawful homeowners of the land which includes of foreigners, locals or multinationals and we will pursue the parcels in query to the tip,” learn a part of the declaration.
A 12 months later, the nationwide land fee and the Nandi County Authorities moved to court docket to get better the land.
An aerial view of Nandi County.
Photograph
County Authorities of Nandi
