Opposition leaders Kalonzo Musyoka and Martha Karua Friday accused government officials of grabbing land belonging to retired Kenya railway staff.
They told President William Ruto to come out to tell the country who has illegally acquired the property located on Valley Road in Nairobi.
The Wiper leader and his People’s Liberation Party (PLP) counterpart accused the State of deploying General Service Unit (GSU) officers to the piece of land that was handed over to the retirees under a legal notice.
This is meant to scare the genuine owners from the land. Such schemes have been rampant where police are illegally deployed on private land in a grabbing drive.
Kalonzo and Karua have vowed to fight the cartels.
“Kenya Railways, under a Cabinet memo vested in their retirement scheme, this is their subject property. It has come to their shocking attention that a person high up in government who has a knack for grabbing public land is at it again. They have chased the poor pensioners out of their property on Valley Road, and the said property is now under police protection as a private developer demolishes the houses of the poor retirees,” said Kalonzo.
“Although the name of the title did change, the beneficial owners are the retirees. It is not available to the government or to any land grabber because it has owners who are the retirees,” Karua said.
Karua added: “Following the steps that should be taken in any legal sale, it has already been sold, and they were paid Ksh.320 million out of Ksh.400 million, and only Ksh.80 million is pending, and I believe it was sold to a Kenyan.”
The Association of Kenya Railways Retirees has been holding peaceful protests to demand the return of their land from the alleged grabbers.
They claim the land was rightfully vested in their retirement scheme as part of their pension, which they allege was never fully paid upon their retirement.
“We have all the papers, the legal notice, and the Trustee Perpetual Succession Act, which is irrevocable. Once properties are transferred to trustees, you cannot revoke the same,” said a representative of the retirees at the press conference on Friday March 14.
According to the retirees, they were forcibly evicted from the property, which is now under police protection while a “private developer” demolishes their homes.
They told Ruto to intervene and return the property to the retirees, questioning how much land an individual can conceivably own.
There was no immediate comment from State House over the claims.
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