Mca Accused of massive land grabbing;Government swings into action!
‘I almost lost my life in the hands of machete wielding goons after they found me checking on my maize crop farm’
A victim of land Grabbing in Eldoret Displays his Title deed,Close to 15 families have accused Kipkaren/kipkenyo Ward MCA
More than 100 displaced families in Kipkaren settlement area on the outskirt of Eldoret town are up in arms against the area member of Uasin Gishu county assembly David Leting and the provincial administration for working in cohort with fraudsters to grab their prime 53 acres of land.
The land in question whose value is currently worth sh 160 million was allocated to the landless families by the government three decades ago.
However, Julius Tarus, 76 who is among the families that were settled by the government on the property is yet to step on the land despite having documents proving that his share of one acre parcel belongs to him.
Tarus complained that despite reporting their plight to the area chief, the deputy county commissioner and Kipkaren police, no action has been taken against those behind grabbing their land.
“We have been subjected to a life of abject poverty with nowhere to call a home after our area MCA forcefully seized our property. We can neither develop nor use it as collateral to obtain a loan,” cried Tarus.
James Sang, another land fraud victim, says that he was in distress after being chased away from his 4 acre parcel of land by armed goons sent by the embattled MCA.
“I planted maize on my farm five months ago and when I went to check on how the crop was doing recently, I was surprised to find someone had built a house on my property claiming that he was sold by the MCA,” complained Sang.
He claimed that an attempt to reclaim his land has been thwarted by goons who were armed with machetes and arrows and have vowed to ensure he does not settle on the land.
“I almost lost my life in the hands of machete wielding goons after they found me checking on my maize crop farm. Were it not for a good Samaritan who pleaded with the unruly youth to spare my life, I would be dead by now,” recalls Sang.
Sang said that he reported the matter to the relevant government authorities including the police and also made follow up on the progress but to his surprise no action has been taken by the government.
He alleged that the MCA has hatched a scheme where he alters ownership land documents of his victims in collusion with officials at the Eldoret land office before selling the land to unsuspecting buyers.
“We have never been able to get justice because some of the government officers who are supposed to help us resolve the matter peacefully are working with the perpetrators of the vice,” added Sang.
The trend, Sang avers, has made the victims of land fraud to lose hope in the national and county government officers adding that they have left their fate to God.
Another victim, Joseph Maina narrated how the MCA stormed their half an acre church compound on Sunday and ordered the prayer service that was in session stopped before ordering all worshipers to get out.
According to Maina who is a church elder, Letting gained access to their church compound by jumping through the fence while accompanied
by more than 30 goons.
“He then directed his goons to hive off part of the church land and fenced it off to the disbelief of the church members. He told us to keep off the property since it was now a public utility property which will host an ECDE centre,” said Maina.
The church elder said that they were surprised when the MCA fished out a title for the fenced section of the church plot which he had processed within a period of one month at the lands office.
Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Edison Nyale confirmed having received several complaints related to land fraud related matters in Kipkaren area and other parts of the region.
“The county security committee has indeed received about 31 land fraud related matters, some of which are active in the court of law. Let me assure the victims that we have already started to work on specific concerns.
He also confirmed that some of the cases related to land fraud have not reached his attention but promised to look into the issue with the aim of solving them in an amicable manner devoid of bloodshed.
“We will not allow the MCA’s to conduct himself in the manner he is doing by trying to disinherit genuine land owners of their property through fraudulent means any more. In fact he has so far been grilled by the Kapseret sub county security committee on the matter.
Nyale said that the county security committee which he chairs was on top of things and told the aggrieved land owners not to worry as their plight was being addressed at a high level.
“My security committee has the capacity to deal with those who are inflicting pain and anguish to the land owners and they should rest assured that it is just a matter of time before we bring the perpetrators to book to account for their action,” assured Nyale.
However, when reached for comment David Leting who is the Kipkenyo ward
member of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly dismissed all the accusations leveled against him by his detractors.
He said that he has never grabbed anybody’s land as claimed and challenged his critics to provide evidence instead of maligning his reputation in the society.
“All the property I own, including several parcels of land in Uasin Gishu County, were acquired through the right channels. In fact I took a loan of Ksh 10 million from a local bank to purchase some of the property on a willing seller and buyer basis,” said Leting
On allegations from some of the accusers to the effect that he chased them from the parcels of agricultural land they bought two decades ago, he said complainants sold their land at lower prices and relocated to other places.
He claimed that the same people now want to come back to reclaim their parcels of land on realizing they disposed of the property at throw away prices a decade ago.
On the contentious issue of AIC church land he is alleged to have forcefully hived off half an acre to pave way for establishment of an ECDE school, he claimed that he took the move for the sake of the public.
“It is true I played a major role to ensure the land is hived from the church’s property to create room for a public ECDE school for learners who used to trek long distances to access education,” said Leting
The leader denied that he acquired title deed for the school land in his name, stating that the ownership document was still in the previous owner of the property.
He accused the management of the church for trying to snatch the parcel of the ECDE land and convert their institution into a private school which he has vowed to oppose at all means.
Close to 170 members of Nyakinyua farm in Eldoret have also accused the said MCA for illegally invading and selling off their 80 Acre piece of land worth millions of shillings .
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