Rasanga in eye of a storm over Yala Swamp land

Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga is in the eye of a storm following accusations that he’s been influencing the allocation of vast swathes of land at the expansive Yala Swamp to a private developer.

Yala is Kenya’s largest papyrus swamp and fresh water wetland covering 17,500 hectares in Siaya, Bondo and Busia counties. It covers parts of Alego Usonga and Bondo in Siaya and Budalang’i in Busia.

The land in contention is located on 3,700 hectares that were previously owned by American investor Calvin Burgess of Dominion Farms.

Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga held meetings with the local leadership over the matter last month but details of what they discussed was not made public.

The National Land Commission had issued a 30-day notice on October 14 to allocate part of the land to Lake Agro, a firm linked to the influential and wealthy Rai family.

Lake Agro, which now runs Dominion Farms, is owned by Jaswant, Tejveer and Onkar Rai, with a share each in the company.

Dominion had acquired a 25-year lease to use the swamp, but Mr Burgess’s big dreams to turn the venture into Africa’s biggest rice farm crumbled after he lost a vicious political fight in the region.

He claimed his multibillion-shilling investment was under siege from Mr Odinga’s allies, but the former prime minister dismissed the claims.

Local leaders and rights activists have accused the Rasanga-led administration of orchestrating the allocation of the parcel to a private developer without due process.

NLC chairman Gershom Otachi said they issued the notice following the intention by the county government to allocate the land.

“When a request for allocation comes, we issue a notice so that we get comments and reactions before we act on it. The objective is to get peoples’ views, which we have received. We will look at the objections before deciding on the way forward,” Mr Otachi said. 

“If necessary, we may hold a public hearing depending on the nature of the issues raised and the magnitude of the challenges then determine how appropriately to have a sufficient understanding of those issues to enable us decide on the way forward.”

Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi accused the governor of working with Lake Agro to “personally benefit from the planned allocation”.
 
“The whole process is a sham aimed at benefiting Mr Rasanga. He has a local shareholding in Lake Agro through proxies,” he said.
 
Mr Rasanga has, however, denied the allegations. He insisted that due process was followed regarding the planned allocation. “Whatever has been done in Yala Swamp has been through public participation. There was transparency,” he said.
 
Mr Edwin Ng’ong’a, a member of the community, said while they were not opposed to the investment, they were against “illegal acquisition of the farm”. 

“We advised the governor to advertise in the papers and attract international investors to have the best with good offer that would benefit our people but this did not happen.

“Instead, he directly reached out to Lake Agro due to personal interests. We know he is seeking to become Alego Usonga MP to continue advancing his interests after the end of his term as governor but we will oppose such attempts,” he said.

Two Siaya residents moved to court to stop NLC from allocating the land to a private investor.

Mr Kennedy Ochieng’ and Mr Charles Oliech filed a petition at the Land and Environment Division of the High Court in Siaya seeking to find that the intention of NLC and the county government is illegal. They want the court to stop the process until the case is heard and determined.

The petitioners stated in a sworn affidavit that the allocation of the land can only happen after the county government has established a plan that will guide registration and management of the said parcel.

They want the devolved unit to carry out a survey of the entire swamp for a clear demarcation, as was recommended by the county assembly in 2019 and by a task force formed by the governor in 2014.

“Yala Swamp is yet to be registered as community land so that the people around the area are allocated their share,” they stated.

Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda, East Yimbo MCA Francis Otiato and his Central Alego counterpart Leonard Oriaro and activist Chris Owala have opposed the project.

The two MCAs last month held a meeting in Nairobi with Mr Odinga over the matter. Mr Ochanda has also taken the matter to Parliament.

Mr Owala, the executive director of Community Initiative Action Group-Kenya, wrote to the NLC seeking the ejection of Lake Agro.

“We object the intention to allocate Usonga /Usonga block measuring 3,698.1 hectares, Usonga/Usonga block measuring 419.5-hectares and Usonga /Usonga block measuring 2,646.14 hectares within Yala swamp to Lake Agro Limited,” the letter stated.

The organisation said the intended allocations violate provisions of Article 63 of the constitution, which states that any unregistered community land shall be held in trust by county governments on behalf of the communities for which it is held.

“It states that community land shall not be disposed of, or otherwise used, except in terms of legislation, specifying the nature, and extent of the rights of members of each community individually and collectively,” the letter stated.

It cited Section 6 (8) of the Community Land Act, which states that a county government shall not sell, dispose, transfer, convert for private purposes or in any other way, dispose of any unregistered community land that it is holding in trust on behalf of the communities for which it is held.

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