Squatters in Kisauni have turned downed an offer to be settled on 1,000 acres of privately owned land.
Tension was high when National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri convened a meeting to announce that the squatters will be issued with title deeds that will allow them to settle on the piece of land.
Shareholders of Thathini Development Company had offered to settle the squatters in Mwakirunge and Bamburi, Kisauni Sub-County on 1,000 acres of their 4,322 acres of land in a bid to end a long-standing dispute between the company and the squatters.
The meeting collapsed when the angry squatters claimed that the 1,000 acres was too small and could not accommodate all of them.
During the Wednesday meeting, Dr Swazuri told the squatters that the land commission would start the process of issuing title deeds to legitimate squatters after the land owners agreed to surrender 1,000 acres.
“The law does not allow people to invade privately-owned land. The shareholders of the company bought the land whose history dates back to 1830 and none of the past governments revoked the title. Asking me to evict the owners simply because they are non-natives is against the law,” said Mr Swazuri.
The squatters claimed they have lived on the land since the 1970s and all of them should be resettled on the land.
The squatters through Mr Gabriel Tella, said they have had several meetings with the owners of the land together with NLC and they have not reached any agreement.
“We need to hold further meetings to deliberate on this matter because at the moment we have not agreed on anything. 1,000 acres of land is not enough for all the squatters,” said Mr Tella.