A task force has been formed to repossess over 400,000 acres of land grabbed by private developers in Laikipia county. The three hundred parcels of land include government forests, livestock holding grounds, stock routes, public institutions, riparian lands among others.
Addressing the media Wednesday, Laikipia county covernor Ndiritu Murithi noted that some senior government officials currently serving and others retired, a former military officer, a former police commissioner, a church among others are the major beneficiaries of the grabbed public lands.
“These are some of the reasons Laikipia county can no longer export beef because livestock grounds have been encroached. Everybody needs to follow the law and we are determined to enforce it,” said Muriithi. The governor was accompanied by his deputy John Mwaniki, National Land Commission Laikipia county coordinator Josephat Wasua, Laikipia East deputy county commissioner Esther Dhahabu and representatives from various government departments.
According to Laikipia National Land Commission coordinator Josephat Wasua, a prominent former army officer occupies 7,420 of public land in Kirimon area in Laikipia North sub-county. A former police commissioner allocated himself 214 acres of public land near Nyahururu town in Laikipia West sub-county, while hundreds of acres have been encroached by private conservancies.
“Some of the cattle holding grounds have been fenced within big ranches such as Olpejeta, Oljogi and Borana among others. Out span next to the collapsed Mountex industries in Nanyuki town was allocated as industrial plots to private developers” read part of the report prepared by National Land Commission seen by the Star newspaper.
It also indicates that hundreds of other public lands are at high risk of being grabbed. The NLC Coordinator recommended to the county government to procure and survey all livestock grounds in order to establish their status.
This comes a day after the local county assembly passed a motion urging the county government to reclaim encroached public lands.
