A multi-national firm based in Kimasas, Nandi County, counted its losses after an Environment and Labour court ordered it to give back 350 acres of land to over 600 local squatters.
The squatters and the firm were embroiled in a legal battle for over 35 years, resulting in their eviction from the land in 1996.
However, the court on Friday, April 21, ruled that the land legitimately belonged to the squatters.
While addressing the media, the jubilated residents expressed delight in the judgment while recalling the years of heartache and struggle for the land.
"When they seized the land, we were very young, and it was disheartening to see our parents forcefully evicted away.
"At the time, most of us did not continue with education past primary school due to financial issues. Now, that the court ruled in our favour, I will go back to school," Stephen Tuwei, a Nandi resident, stated.
In addition, the residents instructed their lawyers to seek compensation for the suffering the eviction cost them and the years of turmoil over the court battle.
The squatters stated that they acquired the land from the colonial government until 1986, when a multinational firm forcefully seized it. Ten years later, the firm evicted 600 squatters, according to the locals.
In 2017, the squatters drafted a declaration titled the Nandi Hill Declaration of 2017 to urge the county government to probe land injustices, whether past or present.
In particular, the declaration pointed out that transactions that were not in the interests of the people of Nandi County ought not to be recognised as valid.
"The Constitution does not protect illegal owners of the land which comprises of foreigners, locals or multinationals and we shall pursue the parcels in question to the end," read part of the declaration.
A year later, the national land commission and the Nandi County Government moved to court to recover the land.
