National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Embu Branch has urged the government to quickly find alternative land for settling evictees of Makima land.
In a statement read by Bishop Njeru Nyaga, Embu NCCK Chairman, after a closed door meeting held at Mwamba Imara Centre at Gakwegori area in Embu West, the council said he is saddened by the way the residents were inhumanly evicted from the land.
Bishop Njeru noted that the timing of the eviction was wrong since it was done when the country is experiencing third wave of Covid-19 thus exposing the evictees to contracting the disease.
The bishop who oversees the National Independent Church of Africa (NICA) in Embu further noted that the internally displaced residents are sheltered in nearby primary school where they are crowded.
The council has called the government to help the residents settle and provide food as they start their new lives.
The council further noted as soon as the schools reopen next week the evictees will be left with no place to go if the government would not have provided them with an alternative place for settlement.
The NCCK has called for the government to fast track and resolve the contentious Makima land to avoid further land conflicts in the area in the future.
The evictees are sheltered at Ndunguni Primary School were evicted from Mbondoni area in Makima two weeks ago which Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) claims to own.
The residents claim they have lived in the area for many years which they claim as their ancestral land because they have no other place to go and have buried their people there.
They said they gave the land for construction of Masinga dam and were not compensated and their settlment is being eyed by TARDA.
The residents have challenged TARDA to prepare and present the list of those who were compensated for the land they claim to own, wondering how 10, 000 acres out of 54, 000 acres in Makima Ward was acquired by the authority.
By Kimani Tirus
