Thwake Dam project hit by land compensation scam
Thwake Dam is expected to create a vast reservoir and catchment area of 10,276 square kilometers once completed. PHOTO | PIUS MAUNDU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Thwake Dam is a Vision 2030 flagship project.
- It has been dubbed by water engineers as the largest man-made lake in East and Central Africa.
- The project has rekindled memories of the controversial Umaa Dam in Kitui County which stalled after millions had been pumped into the project.
More than 500 families residing in the proposed Thwake Dam area are in dilemma as a fresh compensation and resettlement controversy dogs the Sh62.3 billion project.
The residents who were supposed to vacate the dam site by February this year, are yet to be fully paid for their land and the compensation process is now under investigation over alleged fraud.
With the onset of the April rain season and the project hanging in the balance, the residents are torn between obeying a government quit notice and going back to their farms.
Most of the families living at the confluence of Thwake and Athi rivers in Kitui and Makueni counties have not been paid while others were only given part of the value for their land excluding developments like housing, fruit trees, and irrigation systems.
CONFUSION
Dr Daniel Kisangau, a resident, says this is contrary to earlier assurances by the government that they will be compensated fully before being asked to move out to pave way for the construction of the project.
“There is a lot of confusion in this project. Most people have not been paid but they are expected to have moved out by now” said Dr Kisangau who is the Director of South Eastern Kenya University’s Wote campus.
The lecturer who is the secretary of Thwake land owners committee says those given partial payments risk squandering all the monies and should be allowed to continue tilling their farms to feed their families.
The residents have now petitioned the Parliament to intervene and save them from the alleged land compensation scam, and ensure they are not forced out until their full payments are made.
According to the petition seen by Nation, most of the farmers have been undercompensated in a process littered with deliberate errors while other strangers who have no land in the area have been paid off.
DISCREPANCIES
The residents want Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri summoned to explain the discrepancies in reimbursement rates that have seen the project stall at the preliminary stages.
Initially, the resettlement of the affected families was budgeted to cost Sh2.4 billion with the government buying an acre for Sh18,000 and the compensation funds were provided in this year’s budget.
However, the compensation process has become subject of investigations by various agencies including an internal audit by the ministry of water after the National Land Commission asked for a further Sh1.5 billion. This raises the land compensation budget to Sh3.9 billion.
Sources at Maji House revealed that the ministry which supervised the surveying and valuation of the project land has demanded the commission justifies the demand for more funds and launched its own internal probe.
