Residents of the Tana Delta have threatened to invade a 30,000 acre ranch owned by the government.
A report by Daily Nation on Wednesday, March 24, indicated that the residents issued a one month ultimatum to the state to allocate them half the parcel or they would forcibly occupy the land.
They lamented of living slum-like life in overcrowded villages yet the land lay idle.
The team sought to have the state allocate them half of the parcel which was set aside for the Tana Development Irrigation Project.
"We are overcrowded in our villages yet this parcel of land is lying idle. We need our land back," stated a villager named Jonathan Marwa.
The irrigation project, which was among water projects started in 2013 and set to be completed in 2015, stalled in 2018 due to lack of funding.
In an attempt to revive it, the state released Ksh900 million and was complimented with over Ksh300 million from the National Irrigation Board (NIB).
The project was expected to help secure the country's food basked while elevating the lives of the over 240,000 people living in the Tana Delta region.
Recently, the government has grown more proactive in re-acquisition of its land for various projects.
In mid-March, the state issued a notice to hundreds of residents in Mwingi and Kiambere asking them to vacate or risk losing property through demolitions.
The state, through Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) had issued a notice to individuals living next to Kiambere Dam.
TARDA sought to reclaim the riparian land attached to the dam.
In Nairobi, the state, which acquired parcels of land in 10 estates, has began another project of constructing affordable houses in an attempt to meet the ever growing demand.
