Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ntimama escapes unhurt in land row fight

By Antony Gitonga
Cabinet Minister William ole Ntimama's bodyguards drew out their guns to protect him after violence erupted during a leaders' meeting in Olkaria in Naivasha.
Scores of people were injured when two groups of youth attending the meeting clashed.
Ntimama’s bodyguards whisked him away, as Maasai morans armed with machetes bayed for his blood.
The violence erupted after the two groups failed to agree on the resettlement of families residing at the geothermal-rich Olkaria area.
The groups also differed over representation of the community to the Lake Naivasha taskforce.
The two issues have caused sharp differences among members of the Maasai community residing in the area, leading to a bitter rivalry that exploded during the leaders’ meeting.
One group led by Mr Maenga ole Kisotu has demanded that KenGen, an electricity generating company, compensates those who were displaced by the geothermal projects before resettling them.
The second group, allied to the National Heritage Minister, has accused their rivals of selling land meant for the resettlement of the affected families.
Chaos ensued during the meeting after a letter purporting that the land in question had been sold was read to the gathering.
The message angered those in Kisotu’s camp, leading to a bitter exchange.
The situation got out of hand with armed youth attacking the person who read the letter accusing him of spreading falsehood and propaganda.
Police had to intervene to separate the two groups.
Kisotu questioned Ntimama’s presence at the meeting as he is not the area MP.
"Ntimama has come from his constituency to bring chaos in Naivasha and we shall not allow this to go on," he said.
Kisotu said that the issue of resettlement lay with those living in Olkaria, and accused some brokers and non governmental organisations of trying to gain from the planned resettlement.
But Ntimama hit at those who disrupted, the meeting saying it was meant to address issues affecting the community.
He said Friday’s meeting had been convened to elect representatives to the Lake Naivasha Task Force.
" We shall come back here on January 21 for another meeting to elect our representatives to the task force. We will ask police to provide adequate security," he said, as his vehicle sped off.CXN

No comments:

Post a Comment