Lamukani squatters demonstrating outside Mombasa law courts. (Photo/Maxwell)
Squatters of Lamukani in Bamburi area, Mombasa staged a demonstration outside Mombasa High Court on Monday after the Court ruled against their claim that they owned the land they occupied.
The over 900 squatters however vowed to disregard the ruling and to reoccupy their land which had been subdivided and sold to private developers.
Through their Chair Alfred Chengo, they said that the ruling was unfair and that they would defy it, since the land was their ancestral.
Chengo said that the dispute began when Gladys Njeri Kagiri was allocated Four acres by the elders but then stated partitioning the whole land and selling it to people.
Initially Lamukani land was 135 acres but Kagiri fraudulently portioned it to 120 parcels which she sold to unsuspecting developers.
According to the squatters the new owners were the ones who harassed them and forcefully evicted them with the help of Bamburi police station officers.
Chengo said that political leaders and the administration had neglected them and were suffering alone without anyone to heed their cry.
“We shall not respect the ruling which was made after the hearing was done in our absence, we were also not told the ruling was to be delivered today,” he added.
He said that the squatters were ready to die on their land after realizing that nobody would listen to their cry for justice.
The National Chairman of Residents Land Protection Organisation of Kenya Dewelly Nyambu addressed the squatters who were lamenting outside the court that he would support their quest for justice.
He said he had written to the National Land Commission and Chief Justice David Maraga about the petition and he hoped that the court was going to review the ruling.
“Land injustices prevalent in the Coast region should stop and it is time that people fought for their land by whichever means,” he said.
72 years old woman Asha Mwalimu Juma cried out loudly saying she wondered where the government thought they would go.
“I was born here and do not know any other home, I would rather die inside Lamukani”, she cried.