Nandi governor Stephen Sang wants a multi-national Tea firm to handover 350 acres to squatters land as ordered by the High Court.
Sang charged that the court sitting in Nairobi on April 20, 2023 upheld a National Land Commission decision that 350 acres of land in Nandi-Hills legally belonged to Kimasas community and should be handed back to them.
The community had been allocated the farm by the colonial administration in 1919 soon after the First World War.
Governor Sang asked Nandi security committee under the chairmanship of county commissioner Caroline Nzwili to ensure the transfer is done smoothly and fast.
The squatters were evicted from their ancestral homes at Kimasas village in 1996 by the then members of the provincial administration assisted by police to pave way for the expansion of a tea plantation owned by Eastern Produce Kenya.
In 2018, Kimasas community tabled their case before the National Lands Commission during a public hearing on “historical land injustices” at the AIC Bible college in Kapsabet town.
The community tabled ownership documents of the 350 acres land they were claiming among them survey maps, payments made to the ministry of lands for the processing the farm and letters dating back to the 1920s to prove their case.
The multi-national firm that benefitted from the eviction failed to prove ownership of the farm in question although it planted tea and benefited from the proceeds for 27 years.
Their houses were set on fire by security personnel while others were knocked down by the firm using excavators as tea was immediately planted and guarded by police.
Sang said the suffering of Kimasas community must come to an end as most of the elders and women died in abject poverty while seeking justice after the then state-managed displacement.
"The children and grandchildren of the people of Kimamsas should be allowed to enjoy the benefits of their land instead of leaving them to continue suffering yet high court has agreed the land is theirs," Sang said.
The governor spoke spoke in Nandi Hills on Monday during a development tour of the area.
The community was forced to cede ownership of the vast land just like other members of the Nandi community as the British colonial administration allocated other parts to their soldiers returning from the world war.
It was during this period that the colonial government allocated Kimasas community the now disputed land being contested by EPK Ltd whose only ground of arguments is based only on tea plantation.
The squatters population has grown to now 600. Daniel Ng’etich, the chairman of the community, said they would not wish to speak on how they intend to do with the land but first to own it.
"We want to take it first and then proceed to court to seek compensation for the suffering and denied revenues for 27 years because the land was forcefully taken away and cultivated without our parents’ consent,” Ng’etich said.
The squatters owe their victory in the case to the 2010 Constitution that saw the birth of National Lands Commission.
The commission was invited by governor Sang to listen to various injustices meted on the people of Nandi by both colonial and post independent administrations.