A report by the Nation on Monday, June 14 stated that the government parastatal is claiming ownership of 900 Acres which the residents state to have been given to them by the government in 2006.
The dispute began in 2014, when ADC laid claim to the land which had been occupied by locals for decades.
In a bid to resolve the conflict, the County Government of Kilifi is expected to present its findings before the National Land Commission (NLC).
Kilifi Governor, Amason Kingi will table the findings before the commission.
Kingi criticized the government for denying residents what is rightfully theirs. He stated that scramble for the land was to launch the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme and the ADC Project.
“The government asked the community for land to start projects to breed dairy cows. The community gave out a huge parcel of land but they did not benefit at all, and 13 years later, the project collapsed and the land was subdivided to senior government officials,” stated the governor.
ADC reiterated by stating that the land did belong to the residents, but was rightfully acquired by the government for agricultural projects.
However, the Kilifi Governor expressed doubts about the viability of the project and its benefit to the locals.
The Galana Kulalu Irrigation Development Project was launched in September 2014, with an aim of producing crops on over 10,000 acres of land.
In 2019, the government pumped Ksh7 billion into the food security project.
However, seven years down the line, the project is yet to yield success. It stalled due to sour relations between the contractor, National Irrigation Board (NIB), the implementing agency for the project, and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
