A dispute over a prime piece of land in Naivasha has created a wedge between the Catholic Church and Nakuru government.
The rift over the land in Kinungi trading centre has paralysed the planned construction of an Early Childhood Development Centre by the county, with each party claiming ownership.
This came as irate area residents stopped the church from fencing the land that is located near Kinungi Primary School until the dispute is resolved.
According to Naivasha East MCA Stanley Karanja, the land belonged to the community and had been set aside for the construction of the ECDE and a dumpsite.
Karanja criticised the church for trying to grab public land, adding that they would petition the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Agency to intervene and fully investigate the case.
“For years this has been public land set aside for an ECDE and dumpsite and we are trying to comprehend how the Catholic Church acquired it,” he said on Tuesday.
Addressing the press at the site, the ward rep said that the county government had already allocated funds for the project, while pledging that they would not back down.
“The church claims to have a 99-lease from the national government and we are wondering how public land was reverted to a private institution,” he said.
One of the elders, Pastor David Muchembe, said that during sub-division, all the churches, schools and shopping centres were allocated land.
He said that the schools were allocated a total of 15 acres, adding that the church was trying to annex part of it despite getting its own share.
“We have plans to construct a social hall and an ECD centre here and we shall not allow private entities to take over the land,” the cleric said.
This was echoed by former chairman of the ECD Francis Karanja who said that the dispute started years ago with the area chief writing to the church to keep off from the land.
“We have stopped the fencing of this land until the dispute is resolved as this land belongs to the community,” youth leader Joseph Karanja said.
A church elder in the Catholic Church who declined to be named said that they had all the legal documents proving that they owned the land and they were ready to seek legal redress.
