Tensions are high in Ndabibi, Naivasha, after over 300 residents of the area invaded several large-scale farms.
Farmers armed with crude weapons have begun tilling sections of the land, much to the chagrin of the owners who were ready to plant. The areas most affected are Moi Ndadi, Ndabibi, and Kosovo, with the invasions occurring just days after herders invaded and torched the Utheri Wa Lari farm in Mai Mahiu.
There is friction in Ndabibi because peasant farms who assert that a portion of the land belongs to the community have started to plant. Samson Kimutai, one of the impacted farmers, claimed that the locals had invaded the 40 acres he had leased from one of the proprietors. He claimed that because some of the area had been tilled and prepared for cultivation before the natives invaded it, this had damaged his plans. He claimed that the criminal groups were “equipped with all kinds of rudimentary weaponry, they don’t seem to fear the police, and their numbers are growing by the day.”
Kimutai continued, noting that the police had done nothing to aid, that the invasion had generated worry among large-scale farmers engaged in maize and wheat plantations. Mutua Kisilu, the Naivasha sub-county commissioner, immediately added that more police had been sent to the affected regions after confirming the invasion. He said that some of the small-scale farmers were cultivating crops at night and that their expulsion and leaders’ arrest was only a matter of time.
With the explanation that many were farming under the cover of darkness, Kisilu refuted claims that the police were overrun by the large number of invaders. Bernard Karanja, a local citizen, claimed that some of the lands belonged to the community and had been unjustly given to large-scale farmers.