2,000 Kiambu squatters appeal for justice after 30-year battle over 400 acres land

More than 2,000 squatters in Kamiti area of Kiambu County are asking the government to expedite their settlement on more than 400 acres of land that they were allocated over 30 years ago.

Under the Kamiti Forest Squatters Association, the residents maintain that they were given the land by the late President Daniel Moi in 1994, but have never taken possession of the property due to endless court battles and vested interests by some government administrators and wealthy individuals.

Led by their Chairman Philip Makau, the squatters appealed to President William Ruto to intervene and ensure they get their share of the 419-acre parcel of land located between Kiambu Town, Githunguri and Ruiru sub counties.

They spoke outside the Thika Environment and Land Court where they had gone for the hearing of a case meant to determine the property ownership which, however, was postponed indefinitely as the duty Judge was unavailable.

Makau said views of the squatters should be heard by the court, noting that many of the beneficiaries have died without getting their land which is now being eyed by tycoons.

Members of the association asked the court to visit the area and listen to the plight of the squatters, saying many of them know no other home.

“We humbly appeal to the court to come to the ground and hold a session with the residents who have sought justice for more than 30 years,” pleaded the group leader.

The squatters also accused some local administrators of ganging up with individuals to grab a public cemetery in the area.

“We ask the Kiambu County Commissioner to take action on chiefs allegedly involved in the sale of the cemetery to wealthy persons. We have nowhere else to lay our departed members to rest,” said Makau.

Fatuma Boru who has been living in the area since 1996 asked both President William Ruto and Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi to take the matter of resettling the squatters.

She claimed that a local administrator had told her that she is not from the area and does not deserve allocation of the land.

“I have lived and worked here with my family since I was a young girl and now I am old with grandchildren. I am appealing to the President to hear our cry and settle because we have no other place to call home,” stated Ms Boru.

Another resident Francis Maina also pleaded with the government to hear the cries of the desperate squatters and move quickly to settle them.

Many of the squatters were employees of coffee farms adjacent to the then Kamiti forest land which Moi decreed that it be degazetted and allocated to the landless people.

In 2022 the Parliamentary Committee on Land and the National Land Commission (NLC) visited the place and made recommendations that the status quo remains, meaning that those already occupying the land should be settled there.