Residents of Gatundu North whose farms have been submerged by Kariminu II Dam waters want the government to compensate them or drain the water from their farms.
The residents from Iruri, Kiriko and Gituamba villages said that the dam has been the cause of their misery since water impoundment started in May last year.
They said that the valuation of properties for some of the affected villagers was done in February this year but they have never received any word regarding their compensation from the relevant authorities.
"If the government cannot pay us, let them drain water from our farms and fence their dam outside our farms. This dam has been nothing but a nightmare to us," Chege Karomo, a resident said.
They said that the multi-billion dam has continued to impoverish them since they have been left with no lands to cultivate, hence putting food on the table for their families has become an uphill task.
The residents expressed fears that a tragedy is in the offing in the villages since water is almost gobbling up their homes.
"Our homesteads have already developed huge cracks because of this water. We are staring at tragic landslides. We live in fear that we might wake up in the dam," John Mwangi, another resident said.
He noted that the dam water has already filled pit latrines in their homes sparking fears of a health crisis in the villages.
Mwangi alleged that despite raising the matter with the relevant authorities including the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) and Athi Water Works Development Authority (AWWDA), no help has come.
"We have knocked on all relevant doors seeking help but our pleas have been falling on deaf ears. This is a ticking time bomb whose results will be devastating if not addressed immediately," Mwangi said.
Catherine Wangari, a resident asserted that they are concerned with the safety of their children saying that they may slip and fall into the unfenced dam and drown.
"We cannot leave our children at home alone because tragedy can strike any time," she said.
The locals also raised concerns with security around the dam saying that assassins are slowly turning it into their dumping site for their victims. They alleged that since the dam was opened in August last year, six bodies have been retrieved from the waters.
"We are troubled as villagers, in fact, no one goes outside their homes past 7 pm because they fear becoming victims," she said.
They asserted that the dam which they thought would address some of their problems like lack of water in their homes has been nothing but a cause of their predicaments saying the only thing they get from the dam is mosquitoes and severe colds.
"I don't have water in my home yet the dam is less than ten metres from my house. All I get is swarms of mosquitoes and severe cold, especially at night. If we knew this is the kind of suffering we were to be subjected to, we would have opposed the dam's construction," Njeri Kamau, a resident said.
The residents have given the government through the Ministry of Water, AWWDA and the National Lands Commission (NLC) a seven-day ultimatum to either compensate them or drain water from the villages.
Paul Mwangi, the secretary of the project's affected persons’ committee said that they will move to court on the lapse of the ultimatum to seek orders compelling the government to compensate the affected residents or vacate their farms.
"Our people are going through untold suffering, colds and pneumonia have become the order of the day in the villages. Locals cannot till their farms and their tea farms have been submerged causing huge losses. We will seek legal redress since the government has remained mum on the residents' plight," Mwangi said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)