MP shifts blame on deal with Kerra that hived off private land
One of the farmers from Kamuiru village in Maragua, Murang'a County, who was affected by the unlawful acquisition of land for a road project. Residents accused Kerra of evicting them from their farms without following due process.
Maragua MP Mary Wa Maua has distanced herself from the deal where a roads authority has admitted to encroaching on private land in Kamuiru village in Murang'a County.
The Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) has forcibly cut a public access road through the privately owned land.
Central Region Commissioner Wilfred Nyagwanga said the matter should not have escalated to being brought to the attention of the president had the area government officers strived to resolve the complainants.
Ms Wa Maua said Kerra erred in telling Kenyans that she guided the encroachment.
"Blame the area chief, the Assistant County Commissioner and the District Surveyor. Those are the ones who are responsible for land boundaries," she said.
Kerra Engineer Mr Shadrack Muoki had told Nation that "the area MP, as our patron, is the one who was responsible for facilitating public participation that came up with the idea that the road is cut through those land."
Mr Muoki, however, said Kerra was willing to keep off the private land and facilitate the removal of the offending gravel.
The affected farmers own the parcels of land ref numbers Loc17/Iganjo/2204, 1871,1870,1826,2205,4020.
The records at the Murang'a land registry show that the parcels are owned by Julius Kihato, Nahashon Ndung'u, Naomi Wanjiku, Esbon Mucheru, Habel Karanja and James Irungu.
Ms Wa Maua, the local MP, acknowledged that the pieces of land, as cited, are private and titled to the farmers "but there exist some stories that the road in contest was as a result of area ancestors who had mutually agreed to donate it to the neighbours."
Conceded
However, she conceded that a public road that was set aside during the original demarcation of area land was abandoned.
"Where we stand now in this controversy, we are supposed to task the area chief and Assistant Commissioner as well as the surveyor to go to the ground and by use of area demarcation maps, sort out the mess," she said.
However, on October 19, 2020, Peter Njeru, the District Surveyor, visited the area and --at a cost of Sh18,000- affirmed that the land belonged to the six farmers.
This was in a report reference number MRG/MS/Loc 17/Vol 1/211.
The surveyor also issued the farmers with a map that depicted the access road as an encroachment into their private land.
The farmers have written to President Uhuru Kenyatta through the office of the County Commissioner seeking his intervention.
In the letter, they say that the action by Kerra has created a perception in their neighbours' minds that the land, measuring a joint 13 acres, was a public utility.
"That is why they forcefully displaced us and some of us are being housed by Good Samaritans after our houses were demolished," they told the president in the letter.
They said their efforts to seek assistance from Kerra, National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), as well as the National Police Service (NPS), have been futile.
