Kwale,KENYA:Residents of Vidziyani village in Mswambeni Sub-county have threatened to use witchcraft to stop a court order of eviction from their ancestral land to pave way for Kwale International Sugar Company to expand its activities.
Speaking in a meeting the residents said being evicted from the land is unconstitutional and it denies them their land ownership right.
“We don’t want to shed blood but we believe in God.We shall talk to our ancestors while carrying out prayers of all kind to ensure we are not removed from our motherland,” said a resident.
More than 800 families are set to be removed from the 1000 hectare piece of land this Saturday with no place to be taken.
The residents claim that they have been living in the area since their fore father’s era carrying cassava farming for business and for food.
Kwale county women rape Zuleikha Hassan Juma on her facebook page confirmed that the residents will be evicted from the piece of land following a court order issued by the Mombasa high court with a one week notice.
Zuleikha earlier last week issued a challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Willium Ruto to intervene and settle the issue.
Halima pore one of the residents accused the sugar company of oppressing residents in the area by hiring goons to burn their houses.
“This company has been oppressing us for a long time, they have been using people to burn our houses. They sometime back set fire on their sugarcane plantations later turned the blame on us” she added.
Rama Ali a Nyumba kumi chairman of Nyumba sita a village in the area says leaders have been using the issue to get political milage during political seasons.
“This issue could have been sorted a longtime ago but politicians have been riding on our plight during the political season.” Rama told Baraka FM.
The row over the land has dragged for over 10 years with residents vowing not to vacate the land and various parties shortchanging the residents with the promise of title deeds
.In 2007 then Area chief Mr Mazrui was accused by the area residents of them by collecting 50 shillings .
Land ownership has been a hot potato for both residents and corporates operating in Kwale county with leaders being accused of giving a deaf ear to the plight of the residents.
