Squatters evicted from Kiboroa seeks compensation
Residents of Kipsagam in Saboti constituency Trans Nzoia County who were evicted from Kiboroa forest in 1987 have called on the leadership of the country under President Uhuru Kenyatta to compensate them.
They said since the eviction life has been tough and they cannot take their children to school, access to medical services and food is elusive and above all have no place they can call home.
Speaking to www.westfm.co.ke Geoffrey Manjirai who is one of the Kipsagam resident said, more than 30000 families that were living in Kiboroa forest are now homeless-living a miserable and unbearable life.
The Kiboroa forest which is about 600,000 acres of land had pines trees which were being transported to pan paper factory in Webuye for paper making but since the collapse of the factory, the land is bare since all the trees were cut.
Mr. Geoffrey also said that 10,000 families of 30,000 that were evicted got land on X Smiths farm. X smith who was one of the Europeans who owned large trucks of land in Kenya but travelled back after Kenya got its independence.
They had pulled pieces together and were working hard to better their livelihood but suffered another blow in 2007-2008 during the post-election violence as they were forced to abandon their homes again.
Elsewhere, the Kiboroa Squatter Alliance under the leadership of Moses Masinde has called on the government to speed up the issuance of tittle deed to squatters who have already been vetted.
Addressing more than 200 squatters in Kitale town, Masinde said they were expecting more than 100,000 tittle deeds, out of which 25, 000 will be issued to squatters when the president visits Trans Nzoia County in the course of the year.
Masinde urged the squatters to maintain peace as they wait for the president’s visit, noting that all the squatters in Trans Nzoia come from various communities in the country.
“We need to maintain peace as your issues have almost reached a climax, we are only waiting for the president to visit and issue tittle deeds, so let us live together despite us coming from various communities,”he said.
One of the squatters who narrated her ordeal Alice Munialo said they are facing hard times with their family during the heavy rains that are being experienced in most parts of the North Rift.
She also complained of low wages that they get from farms which cannot sustain their daily up keep requesting the whole exercise of resettling and issuing title deeds to be first tracked so that they can live a better life.