Residents of the contested 300-acre Kasirini land in Kiambu County have dismissed claims linking Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and Gatundu North MP Elijah Njoroge to the disputed property, even as they call for urgent government intervention to resolve the matter.
The dispute, which involves members of a farmers’ Sacco in Kasirini, has reignited tensions in the area, with residents questioning the emergence of competing claims over the land. They insist that none of the mentioned leaders has personally claimed ownership or carried out any development on the property.
Community members are now urging the government to conduct an official survey and subdivision of the land, saying clear demarcation would help end decades of uncertainty.
At the heart of the row is a long-standing claim by residents that the land belongs to their forefathers. They trace ownership back to the 1950s, when it is alleged the property was acquired from the Dorobo community. According to them, generations have since lived on and worked the land, with cooperative records, passbooks and burial sites serving as evidence of occupation.
The residents say the dispute has persisted for more than 40 years, marked by repeated attempts to challenge their claim and what they describe as shifting narratives, including assertions that the land belongs to the government.
“You fight for something for over four decades, you finally succeed, then suddenly a narrative is pushed that this is government land being given out,” one resident said.
Confusion has also been attributed to the registration of another entity with similar name, and has caused the creation of duplicate claims within the same plot, making it even harder to settle the matter.
Nevertheless, there have been warnings from the co-operative leaders on politicizing the whole thing, saying that it is just a matter of individual land rights for the community. Speaking to the media, chairman Austin Gitau Kioi has stated that they are not going after any political leaders, and the matter is strictly about land documentation.
Another claimant in the matter is Agnes Nyakianda, who says her family has occupied the piece of land for several decades now, having grown up there.
On his side, Kipchumba Murkomen has denied being involved in the multibillion shillings matter, and called all reports connecting him to be baseless and misleading. In a press statement by the Ministry of Interior released early Wednesday, the CS denied any involvement in the matter at hand.
The controversy follows a report by the Daily Nation detailing a long-running dispute over the prime 300-acre parcel in Kiambu County, estimated to be worth about Sh20 billion.
