Relief for Kakuzi squatters as NLC allocates them 3,200 acres

Following decades of struggles and court battles, some 4,000 squatters in Murang’a County sighed with relief after the National Land Commission (NLC) recommended that Kakuzi PLC allocates them 3,200 acres of land.

Their pursuit for justice came after 50 years of struggle through various government regimes and brutality meted out by guards from the agricultural company in which some even lost their lives.

In a special Kenya Gazette Notice issued on November 14, 2025, the commission allowed a claim for settlement by members of Kakuzi Division Development Association, Kituamba Kaloleni IDPs, Milimani Community and Njoki Mwangi while at the same time dismissing an objection by the company.

Speaking to journalists after the Legal Notice No. 230 was issued, the claimants expressed their relief and gratitude to NLC, the government and the judiciary for addressing their plight arising from historical injustices.

While celebrating the move to allocate them land, members of the Kakuzi Division Development Association (KDDA), the umbrella body representing the squatters, vowed to pursue an additional 39,000 acres which they are demanding from the British-owned company, citing dispossession and displacement by colonial government.

Through their Chairman Daniel Kamau and lawyers representing them from Mwangi Wahome and Maina Gathara Advocates LLP, they asked Kakuzi Plc to comply with the Commission’s decision and allow them to take possession of the land.

Kamau said his members, most of them aged above 70 years, are ready to move in and start utilizing the land, including starting farming activities immediately.

“Following the long wait, members are ready and willing to move in promptly and start planting bananas, beans and other crops during this rainy season. We ask Kakuzi to allow us to settle without any hurdles,’ Kamau pleaded.

Esther Mugure, a squatter aged 78 years, said she was born and raised on the Kakuzi land and has no other place to call home. She looks forward to settling on the land with her children and grandchildren.

“Since I was a young girl, Kakuzi has been my only home. Now I have grown up children and grandchildren whom I would like to see settle here before I die. That is my humble prayer to the government,” Mugure remarked.

Pius Maina one of the lawyers representing the claimants, asked Kakuzi PLC to comply with the legal gazette notice and let them take possession of their property.

“Considering the anguish and suffering that these elderly people have gone through over the years, the management of Kakuzi should relinguish the land without resorting to any further legal tussles,” stated Maina who was in the company of colleagues George Mwangi and Musa Ambani.

The more than 4,000 members of Kakuzi Division Development Association had lodged a Historical and Land Injustice claim with the National Land Commission through Petition number NLC/HLI/006/2017 in which The claimants maintained they or their ancestors were the initial occupants of the land in question, LR. NO. 10731 and L.R NO. 11674 (21211).

In the Special Kenya Gazette Notice NLC recommended that Urban Development (Directorate of Land Adjudication and Settlement) in consultation with the Ministry of Interior and National Administration to vet and settle the vulnerable members accordingly.

The commission also recommends that Director Land Adjudication and Settlement in consultation with Kakuzi PLC and any other relevant government Institution to regularize the settlement schemes within Kakuzi land by enabling pending titling and conclude the settlement in Phase V and any other of the settlement schemes within Kakuzi land.

The respondent, Kakuzi PLC was also advised to relocate schools and public utilities for closer access to the people and, in the alternative, provide proper access roads.

Ambani, one of the advocates for the squatters, notes that for over 50 years the claimants have been pursuing justice and their pursuit has only seen around 10 per cent of those who were displaced settled, albeit on rocky hills and forest reserves and for the last 30 years they have not been issued with any ownership documents.

He maintained that there is no provision in the constitution for the respondent, Kakuzi PLC to appeal the decision but said they are ready to defend the decision in court