Kanyakwar Land owners threatens to move to court to reclaim their land.

Members of the Kanyakwar Kajulu Kolwa Welfare Association address the press in Kisumu today where they have threatened to move to court in order to reclaim their land that they were forcefully evicted from-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo.

By Dickson Odhiambo

August 18, 2019.

Kanyakwar Land owners threatens to move to court to reclaim their land.

More than 500 people who claim to be the land owners within Kanyakwar area in Kisumu County have threatened to move to court to sue both the National Government and the county Government of Kisumu for their alleged failure to help them get back their land.

Through their welfare Association known as Kanyakwar Kajulu and Kolwa {Kikako} welfare Association, the land owners say their problem begun in 1978 when a section of their land at Kanyakwar behind the current Lake Basin Mall was taken by the then Government without following due process.

Addressing the press in Kisumu today, the land owners said they had petitioned the National Land Commission under the then chairmanship of Dr. Mohamed Swazuri so as to help in solving the dispute between them and the National Government.

They claim that the National Land Commission through a Kenya Gazette Notice on March 31 this year instructed the County Government of Kisumu to form a task force on land so as to help in resolving the issue of Kanyakwar land which has been in dispute for a long period of time.

They claim the county government of Kisumu has failed to form the said task force hence nothing has moved forward since the day of the said Kenya Gazette notice in March this year.

“We are very much tired about being taken for a ride for a long time without solving our issue of the land at Kanyakwar which has taken a long period of time,” they said.

They said it is this reason why they are intending to move to court so as to seek legal redress against the issue which has taken more than four decades without being solved, adding that the land they want given back is approximately 900 hectares comprising of three locations.

Robert Ochieng Osure a youth member of KIKAKO who gave the chronological account about the land in question said they had sent a petition to the national land commission which directed the County Government of Kisumu to form a task force so as to look into their issue hence such a task force has not been formed so far despite meeting the Kisumu Governor Prof Peter Anyang Nyong’o.

He appealed to the County Government of Kisumu to speed up the process of forming the task force so as to look into the issue as directed by the National Land Commission.

“We have met even the Kisumu Governor on this issue but nothing has happened so far and we still make passionate appeal to the Governor of Kisumu County so as to speed up this process of forming the task force,” Osure said.

He said the Government acquired the land through compulsory acquisition through a Kenyan Gazette notice but the proper procedure was not followed, adding that some residents who were owning the land were forcefully evicted from there.

He adds that it was after such forceful eviction that the Kanyakwar Kajulu Kolwa Welfare Association was founded to help in pursue the matter.

“The process of compulsory acquisition of land was not properly followed hence we embarked on fighting for justice about the getting back our land,” he says.

He says one of the prayers they want is that proper adjudication be done on the land and its owners issued with title deeds, adding that those who have been provided with illegal letters of allotment on the said parcel of land should be revoked hence the rightful owners get the genuine title deeds.

They claim that some powerful people are also owning plots their illegally, adding that time has come when the real land owners get back their land.

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