Hundreds of youngsters with machetes stormed a section of the Vipingo Sisal farm in Kilifi County.
In the early hours of Good Friday, they annexed a piece of the land and built dwellings. According to Kilifi South police chief George Madoli, about 500 youngsters seized the sprawling sisal plantation along the Mombasa-Malindi Highway, claiming ancestral title of the land.
He claimed the intruders provided copies of title deeds claiming the land leased by Vipingo Sisal Estate belonged to their forefathers. They claimed that the lease had expired.
Mr Mrima Wanyepe, who claimed to be the chairman of the landless in the area, said over the phone that the 800-acre disputed land was meant to be allocated in the beginning of this year.
“The lease on the Vipingo Sisal Estate expired, and we applied to have our ancestral land reverted; we acquired the title deed for 800 acres of the land from the Ministry of Lands, which was meant to divide it for us,” he explained.
The certificate of title deed was issued on December 13, according to a copy of the record. But, The Standard was unable to independently confirm the document’s legitimacy.
Wanyepe, however, asserted that the Kilifi county administration was mandated to assist in the adjudication and division of the 800 acres for the squatters. But, he continued, “it has been delaying the exercise.”
The police claimed they were unable to distinguish between the legitimate title deeds presented by the investor and the squatters yesterday. The sisal plantations in Vipingo have been seized by youth who claim ownership. The security team has agreed that we meet later to discuss and reach a mutually agreeable resolution. They want to engage lawyers on behalf of both parties. According to Mr. Madoli, it was proven that the disputing parties met at the Kilifi County Commissioner’s office last Tuesday but were unable to come to a consensus over who, between the investor and the locals, is the rightful owner of the property.
The police claimed they were unable to distinguish between the legitimate title deeds presented by the investor and the squatters yesterday. The sisal plantations in Vipingo have been seized by youth who claim ownership. The security team has agreed that we meet later to discuss and reach a mutually agreeable resolution. They want to engage lawyers on behalf of both parties. According to Mr. Madoli, it was proven that the disputing parties met at the Kilifi County Commissioner’s office last Tuesday but were unable to come to a consensus over who, between the investor and the locals, is the rightful owner of the property.
“Yeah, the County Commissioner’s office is where we first met. We do not know if anyone else has a title to the same land as we have as members of the Bambani association, according to Wanyepe.
He said that 500,000 people had been squatting near the Vipingo Sisal plantation for several years. Also, the locals are suing for an additional 3,900 acres of the sisal crop. The villagers’ title deed for the 3,900 acres of property was found to be invalid by Justice Millicent Odeny in January, giving a setback to the squatters who insisted the land belonged to their forefathers.
The title obtained by the Bambani and Kikandale communities in July 2020, according to Justice Odeny, was superimposed on one owned by the NSE-listed Vipingo Development Ltd. The residents had asked the court to formally recognize them as the proprietors of the roughly 3,911-acre property. Wanyepe said yesterday that they had appealed the situation. One of the squatters, Joshua Kenga, claimed that the sisal farm is their ancestral land and that they won’t give up until they have it.
President William Ruto pledged on Thursday to resolve the Coast’s squatter issue. According to him, the government has set aside Sh2 billion to buy land from absentee landlords so that squatters can dwell there.