The 2020 MoU blamed for Kajiado-Taita Taveta border clashes

Representatives of over 1,000 squatters displaced from their farms along the Njukini/Elerai area are blaming the 2020 deal between Kajiado and Taita Taveta counties for their land woes.

They claim the deal gave the Rombo Group Ranch exclusive land rights to reclaim over 3,000 acres of land that encroached on part of Taveta Sub-county.

Human rights activist George Mutuku claimed that local residents had lived in peace for decades before the deal was reached.

Interestingly, the vast ranch that traverses both Taita Taveta and Kajiado counties has been an epicentre of conflict between the Kamba, Taita, Taveta, and Maasai communities for a long time, he noted.

According to documents seen by The Standard, the land deal was signed in 2020 between Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku and former Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja.

“We have reclaimed the land that had been encroached on by the neighbouring community at Njukini. I call upon the communities from both counties to respect the demarcated boundary and observe the laid-down rules to ensure peace and harmony prevail,” stated Ole Lenku after signing the land deal.

“We have demonstrated that the many boundary disputes among several counties can be resolved without going through the torturous court processes. I urge the Kajiado people in the area to now utilise the land which has reverted to them for productive economic activities,” added the governor.

Ole Lenku said they had resolved the 50-year boundary dispute between the people of Kajiado and Taita Taveta counties.

Samboja said the signing of a joint boundary resolution agreement with his counterpart signalled a fresh start for lasting peaceful co-existence between the two communities bordering the respective counties.

In his statement, the former governor said the repossession of the land occupied by residents of Kajiado was a laudable step which should be the genesis of amicable dispute resolution for counties embroiled in similar boundary disputes.

“As we cement this, it is my county’s desire to see that the boundary dispute pitting us against Makueni and Kwale counties will yield a similar outcome,” stated Samboja.

This comes as many questions now abound as to why local squatters were displaced following the recent land clashes that left one farmer dead, dozens of others critically injured, property of unknown value destroyed, and over 1,000 displaced a fortnight ago.

The farmer was killed in the Njukini/Elerai area at the border, forcing the government to deploy a multi-agency security team to quell the renewed clashes between the Kamba and Maasai communities.

Mutuku squarely blamed the land deal, which he termed illegal, for the land woes facing the Kamba community.

“We are blaming Governor Ole Lenku and former Governor Samboja for the land woes we are facing in the area. The land deal the two leaders signed irregularly alienated a large part of county land and allocated it to the Rombo Group Ranch in Kajiado County,” he alleged.

Speaking to The Standard yesterday, Mutuku noted that the boundary dispute between the two counties remains a major problem.

“The government is yet to resolve the boundary issue that has persisted for far too long. There is a need for the government to define the actual boundary between the two counties in order to find a permanent solution for peace to prevail in the region,” he said.

“The only solution is to define the boundary between the two counties that has remained unresolved for years, precipitating the land clashes,” stated the human rights activist.

Even as the displaced squatters claimed that no solution has been found at the volatile border, senior NGAO officials and elected leaders said they are negotiating with elders from both sides to help find a lasting solution to the perennial land issue that turned chaotic last week.

National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs) and elected leaders from Taita Taveta and Kajiado counties are engaging with elders from both sides in a bid to restore calm in the Njukini/Elerai area.

County Commissioner Josephine Onunga confirmed that they are holding peaceful public rallies and engaging elders from both sides to find an amicable solution to the land problems in the affected area.

The Commissioner said the squatters have been living on land belonging to the Rombo Group Ranch in Kajiado County, which has a title deed.

Onunga noted that some squatters have been subdividing and selling private land they have illegally been occupying. “Negotiations are still going on between the squatters and the landowner to find an amicable solution to the problem. The management of the ranch can decide to sell the disputed land to the squatters or not,” the administrator told The Standard.

During the land clashes, more than 70 houses were also torched when the Maasai community descended on the disputed area with all manner of crude weapons and burnt down houses belonging to the Kamba.

The Maasai community claimed that the Kamba had encroached on their titled land — a narrative the Kamba denied, saying they had been living in the disputed area for the last 50 years.

In retaliation, the Kamba community shot and critically injured six Maasais with arrows. “I do not know any other home apart from Njukini, where we have lived for over 40 years,” said Peter Mbote, a local resident.