The rolling green hills of the Gusii region were once celebrated for their agricultural productivity and close-knit communities.
Today, they are increasingly becoming scenes of crime — or potential flashpoints — amid a troubling rise in murders and violent conflicts linked to land disputes.
Experts, security agencies and residents alike point to diminishing land sizes as a growing trigger of tension across Kisii and Nyamira counties.
Kisii Governor Simba Arati has already raised alarm, terming the trend a growing menace threatening economic development and sustainable land use.
According to the county boss, the continued fragmentation of ancestral land into smaller, uneconomical portions is undermining agriculture, housing planning and infrastructure development.
“Land is one of our most valuable resources. When it is subdivided into uneconomical sizes, it becomes difficult to support meaningful farming or investment,” Arati said during a recent function in South Mugirango.
Across villages in the region, population pressure and generations of land subdivision have left families grappling with shrinking plots. With smaller parcels come unresolved ownership wrangles lurking beneath the surface.
As the population grows, so does competition over every available acre, according to Gusii Elders Council Secretary General Samuel Bosire.
“What was once expansive farmland has gradually transformed into fragmented parcels barely enough for subsistence farming,” Bosire said.
For many households dependent on agriculture, land is not merely property — it is livelihood, identity and inheritance.
“When land becomes too small to support a family, disputes are inevitable,” Bosire added.
John Oroko, an elder in Nyacheki, Bobasi, says the diminishing resource has sparked vicious family battles, some ending in fatalities.
“Brothers fight brothers. Cousins turn against each other. In some cases, the conflicts escalate tragically,” he told Kawatungu.
A review of police records indicates that a significant number of homicide cases reported in parts of the region stem from inheritance disagreements, boundary disputes and contested sales of family land.
In several recent incidents, disagreements over boundary lines or the sale of ancestral land without family consent have led to deadly confrontations.
In March 2023, three people were killed in a suspected land conflict in Nyamache, Kisii. A year later, in March 2024, police reported the murder of an elderly woman and her daughter in Suneka following a land dispute.
These incidents reflect a disturbing link between land wrangles and violence in a region where shrinking land sizes and inheritance tensions often escalate into deadly encounters.
In many cases, tensions simmer for years before erupting into violence. In others, families grapple for months with burial disputes long after relatives have clashed.
Like in many African communities, land in Gusii is traditionally passed down through the male lineage, often sidelining women and creating friction when widows or daughters assert inheritance rights.
Some landowners, under financial pressure, sell portions of family land without consulting relatives — triggering disputes when buyers attempt to take possession.
Cases of forged title deeds and double allocations have also been reported, with fraudsters exploiting weak documentation systems and family misunderstandings.
“Many people do not have clear titles or updated records,” said County Lands Executive Charles Ayienda. “When documentation is weak, conflict becomes almost unavoidable.”
In some areas, youth unemployment is compounding the crisis. With limited economic opportunities outside agriculture, many young people remain heavily dependent on inherited land for survival.
Frustration over shrinking prospects often intensifies disputes, particularly when siblings disagree on how land should be shared or developed.
Bosire notes that in the past, disputes were often resolved through clan mediation and traditional arbitration. However, modernization and increasing legal complexities have weakened these informal systems, leaving some conflicts unresolved or pushed into formal courts where cases drag on for years.
He is now calling for comprehensive land reforms, improved documentation and expanded economic opportunities to ease pressure on land.
Governor Arati has encouraged residents to explore alternative livelihoods beyond agriculture and urged public awareness on legal inheritance processes to reduce conflicts.
For many residents, however, the issue is deeply personal.
“Land is everything here,” said Ombagi Akero, a local elder in Nyamira. “When it becomes scarce, peace also becomes scarce.”
Unless sustainable solutions are found, the fertile hills of Gusii may continue to witness bloodshed rooted not merely in criminal intent — but in a desperate struggle for survival on diminishing ground
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