Taveta MP John Bwire leads squatters to invade Basil Criticos' 100-acre land
Workers repair a fence on the land belonging to former Taveta MP Basil Criticos (inset) in Mokine area Taita Taveta County on June 19, 2023. The fence was pulled down by locals.
The feud between former Taveta MP Basil Criticos and the people of Mokine in Taveta, Taita-Taveta County, continues to deepen after the locals brought down an electric fence under construction over the ownership of 100 acres of land.
The locals, led by Taveta MP John Bwire, invaded Mr Criticos' land on Tuesday afternoon and chased away workers who were erecting a fence, claiming the land belonged to them.
Mr Bwire told Nation.Africa that he led the residents to claim the land after Mr Criticos fenced off the land, including more than 33 houses on the disputed land.
"The locals protested against their eviction because there was no court order. There has to be a process to resettle the locals on the land and we do not want the businessman to use the names of senior government officials to frustrate the locals," said Mr Bwire.
The invasion is the second after Saturday when they pulled down part of the electric fence and burnt it down before police intervened to prevent further destruction.
On Tuesday morning, Mr Bwire was summoned to the Taveta Directorate of Criminal Investigation where he recorded a statement, but this did not stop him from leading the locals back to Mr Criticos' land.
"I was asked by the DCI to record a statement and I cannot deny that, but my rule is that we will not go to court on the land that we know is part of the local land. We will continue to block the fencing until Mr Criticos accepts to give us part of the land and this will not only happen in Mokine but also in Machungwani we will oppose the fencing of the land," said Mr Bwire.
In a telephone interview with Mr Criticos, he denied that he had sold the land to a senior government official and that he had only fenced the land because he legally owned it. Mr Criticos said that all squatters were allocated land and that they had to move to allow him to farm.
"The rumour that I am selling the land to a senior government official is not true because I have the title, but what I want is to use the land," the former MP said.
The Mokine land, which is next to President William Ruto's 2,500 acres, has been disputed for years and now locals have said they will not allow any more land to be sold to non-locals until all squatters are settled.
In 2017, the former Taveta MP sold 2,536 acres of land to President Ruto, saying he was funded by the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC), a parastatal under the Ministry of Agriculture, to buy the land. The transaction took place when President Ruto was Minister for Agriculture.
Mr Criticos has since condemned the invasion by the locals led by Mr Bwire, saying it was illegal to forcefully lead them onto his land.
