Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu has cautioned the Loita residents against selling their land following a successful demarcation of their settlement.
Ntutu reminded the residents that land is a factor of production and if they sold their land to outsiders, they would remain landless and heighten the poverty rate in the area.
The governor instead asked the community to utilize their land well by planting maize, beans, sunflower, potatoes and keeping productive livestock so that they can get value for their land.
“I request you to guard your land properly by putting it into good use that will give you a good return. If you start selling off your land parcels now, then your children could become landless,” he said.
The governor spoke at Morijo trading center where he issued a bursary worth Sh12 million to needy and vulnerable children in Loita ward.
The residents were asked to take advantage of the bursary issued to educate their children in high learning institutions so that they can be professionals and help the society.
Those who dropped from school because of early marriages, teenage pregnancies or moranism were also asked to enroll in Technical and Voluntary Education Training (TVET) institutes to get professional skills that will help them earn an income.
“There is still hope for those who dropped out of school. The government has built a TVET institution in every constituency that you can enroll for a professional course and become a plumber, electrician, mechanic, masonry, carpenter among others,” he said.
He reiterated that the county government had released Sh. 450 million in form of bursary to benefit all the 30 wards in the county.
Ntutu warned of double allocation and asked parents who benefit from the county bursary not to apply for another help in the constituency kit or from the charitable organizations.
Men who impregnate teenage girls were also put on notice as the governor promised to collaborate with the department of education to go for men who will have impregnated school going children during this long holiday.
The governor asked the community to shun retrogressive cultural practice like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages that have been pulling the community behind.
Loita ward borders Tanzania country and is the only area in Narok County, where people have been living in communal land before the government demarcated the land this year.
Both men and women benefited from the land in equal share, where men above 18 years of age and married women got between 15 and 8 acres of land, depending on the group ranch they belonged to.
By Ann Salaton
