Tana River residents protest alleged grabbing of their ancestral land

Members of Kipini community forest association during a restoration exercise at a mangrove site in Tana Delta in Tana River County on 3/9/2023. [Caroline Chebet, Standard]

Residents of Kipini East ward in Tana River County have protested against national government officers, whom they accuse of aiding the alleged grabbing of their 10,000-acre ancestral land.

Led by Islam Abdala, the residents alleged that a local wildlife conservancy had colluded with national government officers to illegally extend its boundaries to area of human settlements.

He said the move has led to the displacement of hundreds of people in the Mkoma Mmoja area.

“We have not refuted that Nairobi Ranch has a title deed, but that title deed does not extend into our ancestral land that they are claiming and displacing us from. We understand that some fake title deeds were processed, and the Tana River County Commissioner came here and refused to show us the title deed,” said Abdala.

He also claimed that the Kipini Wildlife Conservancy was destroying people’s homes and displacing them, claiming that the ancestral land belonged to the conservancy.

“The other one is Kipini Conservancy, whose land our fathers donated in the 1970s, but they are also displacing our people and illegally extending the boundaries.

"I call upon our elected leaders to come forward and protect us from the land grabs being carried out by land grabbers colluding with government officers,” he said.

Ms Husna Abdul, a youth in the area, said that they will not sit down and watch their land rights being swept under the carpet, adding that land will emancipate them from poverty.

“The government should be protecting us, especially the youth, who are now being forced to engage in illicit drugs to drive away stress, and they should ensure that we get our land back so that we can empower ourselves,” he said.

Ahmed Abdala, a fisherman, said that the youth was ready to engage in meaningful farming activities.

Kipini East Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) Abubakar Athman cautioned the European Union and the World Bank against funding programmes of the Kipini Wildlife Conservancy, saying that the conservancy was not helping residents in any way, but human-wildlife conflict cases had increased due to mismanagement.

“In 2013 a land grabber with his syndicate erected a beacon on a 10,000-acre piece of land on ancestral land and displaced our people using force, and I also call on the European Union and the World Bank to stop funding programmes at the Kipini conservancy that were aimed at helping the community, but what we have seen is land grabbing and theft in the conservancy,” he said.