Jomvu MP Badi Twalib has vowed to stand with his constituents amid a surge in land disputes.
The constituency has recently witnessed a wave of evictions, the latest being the Mwaeba village in the Miritini location, where residents were evicted in the wee hours.
Speaking during a meeting with Village Elders, the legislator condemned the eviction of more than 30 families of Mwaeba in an inhumane way by a tycoon.
During his second term as MP, he revealed that the parcel of land was earmarked by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to expand the Moi International Airport. The residents were moved.
He wondered why a tycoon had evicted the residents to build warehouses.
“I know the airport needs maximum security, in my thoughts the residents should stay there because since the world was formed there has been no incident between the residents and the airport,” stated Twalib.
He added that the residents have co-existed well with the airport even benefitting from Corporate Social Responsibility projects.
“They have now seen that the area is prime and want to evict them because they are weak. As MP I will not accept that. I will stand with my people,” he said.
He noted that the Head of State is aware of the case and had instructed the Principal Secretary for Land and Physical Planning Nixon Korir to intervene in the matter.
“Forceful evictions were rejected by this government and if someone has a court order he must involve all the people. As MP I am not aware of anything, I was informed that residents were evicted at night,” said Twalib
The MP vowed to follow legal ways for the residents to get justice. He noted that if a tycoon has a court order other steps must be followed before people are evicted.
He pointed an accusing finger at security officers who may have colluded with the tycoon to carry out the evictions.
Wilson Nyamawi, a resident of Mwaeba said they used to cultivate the parcel of land since the 1950s and it was not until 2020 when they were moved by KAA to carry out drainage works.
This year July, he said they were astonished when the small piece of land that was left by KAA, they were awakened by hired youth escorted by the police on a mission to demolish their houses built on the 30-acre land that they claimed they had lived in for more than 60 years.
Nyamawi said they were no public participation in their eviction and their properties were destroyed in the melee.
“Since then our children don’t go to school, our farm is fenced we can’t access food. Our clothes were destroyed. We sleep under trees. We want the government to intervene,”
Bradley Ouna, Human Rights Activist said when a court order is issued there is a well laid down procedure to be followed including the involvement of the Sub-County and County Security Committees.
He accused the tycoon of hiring youths to prevent the residents from accessing the land.
– By Sadik Hassan, KNA
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