A land dispute in Maragwa, Murang’a County, escalated on Sunday into a political standoff between the area Member of Parliament, Mary Wamaua, and the Lands Cabinet Secretary, Alice Wahome, following violent clashes between residents over a caveat placed on the 4,000-acre Ngimu Farm Land Block 1.
The dispute arose at the Kimorori trading centre after residents split into two groups in a meeting organised by the area MP to discuss the land restriction.
One group demanded the removal of the caveat, while the other supported its placement.
The caveat was imposed by the land CS. Still, the area MP was against it, citing that unnamed individuals had vested interests in the land and described the restriction as unconstitutional, arguing that it infringes the rights of landowners who had held the property for decades.
According to the MP, the caveat had paralysed development in the area by preventing landowners from accessing loans and carrying out transactions on their land.
One of the residents cried that they were not involved and had not been told why the caveat was being put in place, despite having followed the proper legal procedure when acquiring the property.
“When I went to the Ministry of Land, I was told that there was a memo from the CS land stating that she had stopped all transactions on the land,” the residents stated.
The caveat made it impossible for the residents to access loans or undertake any transactions using their land as collateral.
The other group supporting the enforcement of the caveat cited that the land was legally put under restriction by the Lands Ministry at the request of the members of the Ngemu Land Buying Group, who accused unknown people of attempting to grab their land.
“If our land is locked, we would want it to remain that way because the case is still in court,” one resident stated.
The area legislator urged President Ruto to intervene and order the lifting of the caveat, insisting that residents were not consulted before the restriction was placed. She maintained that legitimate landowners are being unfairly punished over disputes they are not responsible for.
“President Ruto, this is your appointee. Whatever you tell them to do, they do. So why have you not responded to us?” she stated.
In response to these claims, the land CS defended the decision to impose the caveat, saying it was necessary to address long-standing land disputes and to curb unlawful land transactions. The CS explained that the restriction was requested by members of the Ngimu Land Buying Group, who raised concerns over possible land grabbing and irregular dealings involving the property.
“To enable the ministry to interrogate the records, it's deemed necessary to place a caveat, and the caveat will be lifted upon investigations and interrogation of records and not at the defence of an individual politician who has no interest in the land,” she stated in response.
She also denied claims of having an interest in the land in question, as alleged by the area MP.
“She (Wamaua) has not listened to me as the mister or the land registrar, Murang'a. She is basically politicising my work,” Wahome added.
Standoff between the two factions forced the police to intervene to quell the situation, however, the meeting did not reach an agreement.
