Mavoko MP Patrick Makau has condemned claims by members of a freedom fighter’s family from Central Kenya that they had been given free land in Athi River town by the immediate former government.
Makau was reacting on a last Tuesday’s incident when people claiming to be family members of freedom fighter the late Dedan Kimathi told the press they had been attacked by goons while touring a parcel of land, part of the controversial East African Portland Cement Company in Athi River town awarded to them by former President Mwai Kibaki.
The group led by Kimathi’s widow, Mukami Kimathi, fled for their lives on the fateful day when they were attacked by a mob they claimed was mobilised by unscrupulous land brokers from Mlolongo, Kitengela and Nairobi.
Makau who spoke at a public forum during NHIF registration of the elderly and people living with severe disabilities in the area deputy county commissioner’s office compound in Athi River town on Saturday said the prime land had attracted several people including prominent personalities from certain community after he successfully petitioned it in Parliament to be reverted back to the community since EAPCC had confirmed exhausting raw materials they required to produce its products.
“I am surprised to see people from other communities invade the land after I successfully petitioned it in Parliament to be reverted to the community, the Ministry of Industrialization, Parliamentary Lands Committee and National Lands Commission have all toured the land on a fact finding mission and there are higher hopes that the government will give it to the community,” said Makau.
The lawmaker said the indications that the land would soon be given to Athi River squatters is what attracted other people from certain parts of the country including those who had branded themselves freedom fighters.
“More than 200 buses came from Central Kenya last Tuesday filled with people claiming they were given the land at State House by Kibaki," he said
Mukami who accompanied the group was pushed on a wheel chair claiming the land was given to her by Kibaki.
"This is a big joke, we have to be serious, if there is land for freedom fighters, let them be given in Central and not in Ukambani,” said Makau.
The legislator said the EAPCC’s land under conflict belongs to Kamba community since it is in Ukambani and therefore cannot be given to non - Mavoko residents.
He condemned the police who he claimed were being misused by certain authorities to frequently attack his constituents on the land, “the police is bending to orders from above,” said he.
“It is the locals who elected Machakos County leadership and myself, nobody will come from outside and be given the land. Those who call themselves freedom fighters are mungiki killing our people, why are they coming here after being chased from their homes,” he claimed.
Makau said the Parliamentary Lands Committee had successfully issued public land to communities in Nyeri, Nanyuki, Lamu and Malindi and therefore the EAPCC’s must also be successfully given to genuine residents.
He said the “freedom fighters” should go and claim free land in Central Kenya.
“If you import people from Central, it is direct provocation, illegal, undermining leadership of the area and provoking the community to unnecessary tribal wars,” he said.
Makau said the government should take full responsibility and pay expenses of all those who had been killed on the land.