Matiang'i says ban on Mwea resettlements still in force

Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang’i has extended the five-month ban on resettling people inside the contentious 44,000-acre Mwea settlement scheme.

He said they would today hold a meeting chaired by the Head of the Civil Service Joseph Kinyua, where leaders from Embu and Kirinyaga counties will discuss the matter, in a bid to iron out the impasse.

STILL TENSE

Dr Matiang’i said the government was keen on expediting the matter in a bid to ensure those who settled there, live harmoniously.

Speaking when he opened a two-day capacity building session for assistant county commissioners from Eastern region at Kenya School of Government, Embu campus, Dr Matiang’i said they had information that the area was still tense.

He said he was under immense pressure by some sectors to lift the ban but said only President Uhuru Kenyatta could lift it due to the prevailing security situation.

“Let us not pretend that there are no issues, I don’t want to wake up and start calling because people have been killed. The way adjudication was done must be discussed and worked on. Let us not hurry when we know that this is an issue that is likely to cause us security nightmares here in Embu,” said Dr Matiang’i.

BLOODY CLASHES

The government stopped site visits by people who were freshly allocated the land, following bloody clashes that saw seven people were shot and injured, with one succumbing to the injuries.

A former District Commissioner, Mr Ireri Ndong’ong’i, together with other elders were also attacked by residents as they toured the area.

Yesterday, Dr Matiang’i said he and his Lands counterpart Ms Farida Karoney, would also consult the office of the Attorney General in a bid to come up with a lasting solution to the problem that had dragged for decades.

The Embu government had already issued 7232 title deeds.

Residents, most of whom missed out land during the just previous allocation have since complained to the government to have an all-inclusive process started afresh, and all the residents considered in the new allocation.

ADVANCED STAGE

However, two weeks ago, Embu Governor Martin Wambora had opposed calls to annul recent allocations at the settlement scheme, saying the process was already at an advanced stage.

He said the government had spent a lot of resources and time in the process.

He recounted how the county mediated talks between various councils of elders to facilitate withdrawal of multiple court cases that had been petitioned by elders of Kirinyaga, Embu, Mbeere and Kamba communities over the land.

The governor said they had held several public participation meetings among other processes concerning the land and thus starting the process afresh would be costly and drag the county backward.

Mr Wambora said the county had gone far in overseeing the subdivision of the land and appealed to the National Land Commission to consider the effort as it looks for ways to unlock the controversy surrounding the land.