Tea firms in panic after Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur leads invasion of plantation
Some of the squatters led by Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur pluck tea leaves at an estate belonging to Eastern Produce tea company of Kenya. They said they are the rightful owners of the land under the Kimasas Farmers Cooperative Society.
Multinational tea companies in Nandi County have been sent into panic following last week’s invasion of a plantation in Nandi Hills.
First-term Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur and hundreds of squatters invaded Eastern Produce Kenya Limited’s (EPKL) plantation and harvested tea leaves. Between Thursday and Saturday, the squatters, led by the MP, invaded the 500-acre plantation, claiming it was their ancestral land.
The Nation has established that the management of EPKL has been holding crisis meetings since the invasion.
EPKL is said to have lost millions of shillings in the invasion. The invaders sold the leaves to local farmers who in turn sold the produce to tea factories.
The land in question is registered under plot number LR 9285 and has been disputed for over 40 years.
The invaders claimed they cannot continue living as squatters yet the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi had three months ago ruled that the disputed land belonged to members of Kimasas Cooperative Society.
Mr Kitur and the squatters cited the court order for their actions. They said that the land belonged to their great-grandparents who lost it to the multinational tea companies during the colonial period. They said they were happy the court had declared them the genuine owners of the land.
“This is historic since squatters have taken over the 500 acres of tea estate land, which the court declared belonged to them and members of Kimasas Society,” said the MP.
“They are happy the Nandi County government led by Governor Stephen Sang has supported and financed the entire process to ensure all squatters get back their stolen land, which had been acquired illegally,” the MP added.
During this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations, Mr Sang said the government must implement the court ruling on the tea estate.
The squatters said that despite the Environment and Land Court ruling of April 20, no action has been taken to have them take over the land. They had previously held demonstrations and asked the National Land Commission (NLC) and the security team in the county to facilitate the taking over of the land.
The squatters regretted that a 2019 High Court judgment in their favour had not been effected.
“The ruling favoured the 140 families of squatters and it was declared the land was illegally acquired over 40 years ago. The court validated three times in a row,” claimed the squatters’ officials led by Mr Daniel Biwott.
According to Biwott, the disputed land was under the management of a white settler who later sold the land to their parents.
“The white settler mobilised the families and they established a cooperative society which was registered as Kimasas Cooperative Society for effective transfer of the land,” said Mr Biwott.
