Omtata fights to reverse Uhuru order on Naivasha land
Activist Okiya Omtatah, who has sued the State over its decision to award a tract of land in Naivasha to the Isahakia Community. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Isahakia Community has maintained that they are the legal owners of the land.
- The research institute however maintained that the community did not have the relevant documents for the land.
A court battle over the ownership of a controversial tract of land in Naivasha has deepened after activist Okiya Omtatah sued the State over its decision to award the land to a community that was laying claim to it.
The row over the 1,500 acres of land has been at the centre of the dispute between the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the Isahakia community, with both claiming to own the land.
On Tuesday, Mr Omtatah filed a petition in the Nakuru Environment and Lands Court seeking orders to reverse a recent directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta that the land be given to the community.
In the petition before Justice Sila Munyao, the activist accused the President of irregularly allotting the public land to the Isahakia community, whom he called fraudsters acting as proxies for powerful people in the government.
“I am inviting this court to intervene and reverse the President’s decision, which is unconstitutional,” said Mr Omtatah.
The court heard that KALRO, a government agricultural research institute, is set to lose property worth Sh20 billion if the decision is not quashed.
ALLOTMENT LETTER
In the case, the Isahakia community has maintained that they are the legal owners of the land.
Samuel Ngugi Nai, the secretary-general of the pastoralists, told the court that the community has lived on the tract of land since 1904.
The court heard that the community had applied for the relevant ownership documents from the Ministry of Lands in 2004.
Mr Nai claimed the government, through then minister of Lands Amos Kimunya, resolved the land dispute and issued them with an allotment letter in 2010 in which each family was to pay Sh6,800 for 330 acres of land.
“KALRO took us to court while we were in the process of applying for the title deeds. They claimed that the land belonged to them,” he said.
But the research institute maintained that the community did not have the relevant documents, including title deeds, to prove ownership of the parcel.
The court directed Mr Omtatah to serve the parties with the documents before the case is heard on March 16.
