Lead image for Nakuru squatters reopen 38-year fight over forest land.
A fresh petition to the National Land Commission (NLC) has reopened a 38-year-old dispute involving 10,000 squatters from Nakuru and revived questions over 200 acres set aside for their resettlement.
The petitioners, including former residents of Bahati and Dundori forests, say more than 10,000 people were forcibly removed in 1988 and that land later excised by the government for their resettlement went to other beneficiaries. They are seeking land allocation, compensation and resettlement.
The dispute dates to a national government campaign to remove people from forest settlements, with petitioners saying homes, farms, schools, graves and places of worship were destroyed.
The petition filed with the NLC asks the commission to recognize the evictions as a historical land injustice and determine remedies for affected residents and their descendants.
The petition says residents had established settlements in Bahati and Dundori, including Rugongo, Kendurumu and Mugumo.
Through their representative group, Elimisha Mwananchi Initiative, the petitioners say the residents cultivated land, kept livestock and participated in conservation.
The group say State officers, including provincial administration and forestry officials, carried out an abrupt eviction in 1988, demolishing houses, schools and places of worship.
“The entire exercise was disgraceful, demeaning, humiliating and discourteous resulting into painful loss of these peoples’ treasured valuables and other properties,” the petition says.