MUTAHI NGUNYI promises to vote for RAILA ODINGA because he tried the 1982 COUP

By Renson Mnyamwezi

Residents and Government officials in Taveta District have clashed over claims that the Kenyatta family had donated land to settle squatters in Taita-Taveta County.

While the Provincial Administration alleges the family is in the process of donating 4,000 acres of the massive Gicheha Farm in the county, local leaders and activists have denied knowledge of such.

They are now demanding proof from Public Health Minister Beth Mugo, who claimed on Monday that ‘out of humanitarian considerations’ the Kenyatta family had donated part of its estate to the landless in the region where the family of the country’s first president is believed to own thousands of acres of land.

Yesterday, Taveta District Commissioner Heribae Nkaduda claimed the Kenyatta family had agreed to resettle some squatters on Gicheha Farm and that chiefs and their deputies were engaged in a ‘verification’ to ensure only ‘genuine squatters’ benefit from the alleged resettlement in Lumi, Njukini and Sir Ramson areas.

Lawyer Stephen Odiago, who is vying for Taveta parliamentary seat on a Ford Kenya ticket, termed the report as unfounded and out to hoodwink locals to support Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta.

A promise

“It is not true that Kenyatta family has donated land. It has always been a promise since 2002. The matter has been dangled for quite some time that the family will donate land,” said the Mombasa-based lawyer on phone.

Former Taveta MP Jackson Mwalulu said he had never seen the said land. “I heard about the intention to donate land to the community but there has never been implementation. I have never seen the land,” he said in an interview.

Immediate former Challa-Njukini civic leader Nehamiah Mutua asked Ms Mugo to prove her claims with facts. “The minister should speak the truth. The Kenyatta family is reluctant to donate land to the squatters,” said Cllr Mutua.

Mugo had said the family had donated land to squatters to defend Uhuru against claims of land grabbing.

On October 21, last year, Gender Minister Naomi Shaban claimed Kenyatta’s family was willing to donate 1,000 acres of their farm. “The vast Gicheha Farm in Taveta belongs to Kenyatta family and not Uhuru, as his political detractors claim,” said the former Taveta MP.