Alfred Mutua’s 2015 Letter on Athi River Land Grabbing Resurfaces
By a directive from President William Ruto, the government has begun demolishing homes constructed on disputed East African Portland Company (EAPCC) land, causing families to tally their losses.
Before this, the Head of State had expressed concern that the wealthy families living on the land had appropriated vast tracts of land designated for the cement company.
In 2015, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua, who was then the Machakos Governor, sent a letter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), then led by Halakhe Waqo, expressing concern over the alleged land seizure.
Mutua argued at the time that a prominent MP had conspired with Ministry of Lands officials to transfer squatters to the area, which was the perfect formula for land grabbing.
“The land, leased to East African Portland Cement Company Limited, has started being grabbed, sub-divided, and sold, without the knowledge of the East African Portland Cement Company Limited Board and my Government of Machakos. According to the Portland Board, documents in their possession show that the leases are far from expiring,” read the letter in part.
“Our initial investigations show that squatters were imported to the said land a few months ago to create the environment for land invasion and grabbing.”
In addition, the former governor asserted that affluent individuals had moved in and illegally begun constructing mansions on the land.
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“Already, people have been sold plots and started constructing. My Government has not approved sub-division, planning, or building permits. Many people, we suspect, have been conned. If this matter is not handled expeditiously, we fear that it may culminate in bloodshed,” he added.
The letter was transmitted to the then-minister of land, Fred Matiang’i, the ex-head of the public service, Joseph Kinyua, and the ex-chairman of the National Land Commission, Mohammed Swazuri.
It remains unclear, however, whether the authorities responded to the letter in question.
Ruto ordered the confiscated land to be recovered and relocated to the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in Athi River on Friday.
“I have given clear instructions to the management here that all speculators, people who have held titles to pieces of land for 10, 15, 20, 30 years without developing them, should be revoked so that we can give it to people who want to use this facility,” he directed.
His directive was influenced by a recent court judgment in which the Machakos Court dismissed a 2014 lawsuit filed by some occupants of the land.
“It is hereby ordered that the Plaintiff’s suit be and is hereby struck out with costs to the Defendant, a copy of the proceeding and today’s ruling be supplied to the parties on payment of court fees,” according to Lady Justice A. Nyukuri.
Alfred Mutua’s 2015 Letter on Athi River Land Grabbing Resurfaces
