Top officers in the Provincial Administration and county government of Nakuru are among those who grabbed land meant for a slaughter house in Nakuru Town East Constituency.
The revelation was made on Tuesday by the Nakuru County Committee on Agriculture Fisheries and Livestock during a fact finding mission. Committee chair Mwangi Waithaka said that the slaughterhouse constructed in 1943 and which has been run by the defunct Municipal Council of Nakuru since then now stands on a one acre piece of land out of the nine acres that were there.
''The committee will write a report that will be tabled before the house for debate with a view to recovering the grabbed land. Although the repossession exercise may be faced with opposition leading to court battles, we know that the court will rule in favour of the county as the initial slaughterhouse map is still intact and it will be easy to identify who occupies part of its land,” said Waithaka.
He added that action will be taken against all those who grabbed the land irrespective of their status in the society.
While noting the end to restore dilapidated infrastructure in the slaughter house, he said that in the year 2014/15 budget, Sh130 million has been set aside for its rehabilitation but the money was insufficient considering the amount of work to be done.
Nakuru East District Veterinary Officer Dr Githui Kaba said that currently, the slaughterhouse which is supposed to be in category B as per the law is in very poor state because it has leaking roofs, poor drainage system and lacks power.
A category B slaughter house is supposed to have a minimum of three acres of land.
He noted that power was disconnected due to unpaid bills while water was only reconnected recently after the governor intervened.
The officers said that the slaughter house has an output capacity of 50 carcasses but can at the moment only handle 5-10 carcases daily.