By SAADA ABDI
The Nubian community has agreed to take 288
acres in Kibra as they wait to see how the government will compensate them for
the loss of over 3800 acres.
The Nubian community has witnessed the 4100
acres of land which they initially owned in Kibra shrink as other communities
move in to form the largest slum in Africa.
Lands cabinet secretary Charity Ngilu met
with Nubian and other Kibra residents on September 30 and promised that a title
deed will be drawn for 288 acres in trusteeship for the Nubians. The former
Prime Minister and MP for Lang’ata which included Kibra is on record as having
promised to give 300 acres to the small community.
“Don’t ask me about where the other land
has gone,” Ngilu told the crowd at Kibra Day Academy ground. “But if you want
to take the 288 acres give me a go ahead and I will proceed to register as a
trust land.”
Kambi Nuru, Mashimoni, Makina and Lindi are
among the villages that will fall in the trust land title.
Ngilu, who was not accompanied by any
official from the National Land Commission (NLC), said that President
Kenyatta’s administration was committed on its election campaign of
transforming Kibra from slum to modern settlement.
Issa Abdulfaraj, the chairman of Nubian
Council of Elders, asked all the residents to remain calm and avoid being taken
by rumours as that would cause unnecessary tension.
“I would like to emphasise that we are one
people,” said the elder. “We are all neighbours and help each other in time of
trouble, which has been a Nubian custom.”
Mzee Abdulfaraj further said that Nubians
everywhere in the country have lived with other communities peacefully.
It has not been clear how the government
will compensate for the lost land but some Nubians are proposing that they be
given land elsewhere. They also want the government to investigate the legality
of how their land was given out and where issues of corruption and illegality
are found, the land be restored to the community.
Source- The New Dawn.
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