The Government has issued a notice to hundreds of residents in Mwingi and Kiambere asking them to vacate or risk losing property through demolitions.
A report by Citizen TV on Sunday, March 14, indicated that Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) had issued a notice to individuals living next to Kiambere Dam.
TARDA issued the notice in an attempt to reclaim the riparian land attached to the dam.
Those living near Masinga Dam have already been issued with the notice effective from September 3, 2020, which was also forwarded to those living near Kiambere Dam.
The agency also claimed to have purchased parcels of land in the area in the 1980s before they were invaded.
Affected residents are, however, fearful that they might be left homeless after they were ordered to vacate without being compensated.
"They came by recently and told us not to bury anyone on Tarda land yet my grandfather was buried there," lamented one of the residents.
"I have nowhere to go and no one to run to. Our children have also been suffering when it comes to education," added another.
TARDA is a state corporation under the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources which was established in 1974 to undertake integrated planning, development, coordination and management of the resources within the Tana.
Kiambere Hydroelectric Power Station was constructed between 1983 and 1987 at a cost of Ksh 9.5 billion and continuously undergoes upgrades.
Masinga Dam, on the other hand, was constructed at a cost of Ksh 17 billion and was completed in 1981.
The state has, over the years, been engaged in a push and pull with the residents whom TARDA also warns may be adversely affected if the two dams break their banks.
In November 2019, then Water Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui warned that Masinga Dam nearly spilt over and posed a threat not only to the residents but the nearby town of Garissa.
The residents however refused to vacate from the parcel arguing that it was their ancestral land.
