Families at Maweni village in Matuga Sub-County of Kwale were forced to sleep in the cold for three consecutive days following the demolition of their structures by police officers.
The distraught families said they are suffering spending the nights outside following the incident and did not know where to go.
One of the affected people, Abdullah Mwasingo said police came on Saturday night and started the destruction of their dwellings, causing them to incur losses.
“Police officers came here and ordered us to vacate our houses and afterward, they slashed our food crops and brought down the houses,” said Mwasingo.
He said before the incident strange people had been visiting them and asking them to accept a Sh.100, 000 compensation and vacate their parcels of land.
“Last week some people whom we don’t know approached us and offered us money so that we can peacefully vacate our ancestral land but we declined and now see what happened to us,” he said.
Mwasingo said he has been living on the land for 30 years but in recent years has been battling strange people who have been threatening with evictions.
He said that they have endlessly reported the injustices to the National Land Commission (NLC) but to no avail.
“The NLC knows what is happening here, every time we seek their assistance they normally say that they are going to conduct land surveys and give us title deeds but no action,” he said.
The residents, however, blamed a local administration official of being behind their predicaments.
“If the NLC are aware that survey in this area has not been done, how comes a local administration official says the land we occupy belonged to a local tycoon,” said Mohamed Ali, another resident.
He said the locals are surprised that land injustices continue unabated despite promises by the NLC that the rights of everyone would be protected.
“It is such a pity that wananchi are the ones suffering and police officers that are supposed to protect them are siding with land grabbers,” said Ali.
Another distraught resident Toto Kiliko said they have been relying on farm produce for their livelihood wondering what will happen after their violent evictions.
“This land is our main source of income where we grow crops and sell farm produce, now where do we go to from here,” he quipped.
By Shaban Omar/Hussein Abdullahi
