A section of members of the Keek-Onyokie community in Kajiado’s Kibiku area wants the election of new trustees to manage their trust land.
More than 3,000 members of the Keek-Onyokie community from Kajiado West met in Kibiku on Thursday evening and declared May 10, 2024, as the day of their election.
This is after the High Court on April 4, 2024, ruled that the community must elect new leaders after 11 years of leadership differences and unending squabbles.
The community own about 2,800 acres of prime land in Kibiku valued at about Sh100 billion.
The late former president Daniel arap Moi handed back the land to the community before his retirement after the government stopped using it.
When the community received the land, it was handed over to the interim trustees, who managed it until 2013, when the first election was held.
In that election, Moses Monik was elected the new chairman, but a wing led by Moses Parantai refused to hand over the instruments of power, including the title of the land to the new team.
Those who were elected in 2013 went to court to demand that the Parantai team hand them the land title.
On Thursday Monik declared that the Keek-Onyokie Community Trust Land is private and that from the time the government handed it to their people, 7 trustee members have been overseeing its management.
In the Thursday meeting, about 3,000 Keek-Onyokie members led by Ole Shokore and Justus Ole Manyara endorsed Monik to be their flag bearer in the May 10, 2024 election.
Manyara said the community respected the April 4, High Court ruling that advised the community to have an election to elect new leaders.
Ole Shokore said the community also endorsed that they would prefer the queue voting system.
Those expected to vote are members and their children above 18 years.
Monik said his people were tired of the leadership squabbles that had threatened to split the members.
“I am calling on all my supporters to maintain peace during and after the election. If I will, demand that the title of the land be handed over to the new officials,” said Monik.
Other officials of the community demanded that Monik be provided with security until after the election.
Kajiado county governor Joseph Ole Lenku had earlier in 2023 vowed to protect the section of Kibiku land from fraudsters.
Lenku together with a section of other leaders across the county had cautioned Kajiado residents from giving money to con men.
“Our land is our heritage. There will be no room for fraudsters in the sub-division of the Kibiku land owned by the Keek-Onyokie community trust in Kajiado West,” Lenku had said.
The Governor clarified that the county government would facilitate the subdivision of the land in a legal process.
Monik opposed the interference of the county government saying the Keek-Onyokie land is private and has its trustees.
Their leaders have been fighting for positions for the last two decades.
A faction led by Monik, which claims to hold a list of incorporated trustees of Keek-Onyokie Community Trust registered by the National Land Commission, said Kibiko’s title was cancelled in 2018.
The faction’s secretary, Lawrence Mbelati, told a church gathering of their members in Kibiko that the title was cancelled after it allegedly emerged “it was issued to a wrong hand”.
But another wing of the community trust led by Parantai that has claimed to have a genuine title immediately dismissed the claims as falsehoods aimed at causing panic among the over 6,000 members.
Mbelati was in the company of a section of trustee members that included Monik, Mamaa ole Kabura, pastor Sammy Nasira and Salash Kirini (chairman of the management board).
They said they are the bona fide elected and registered members of the trust.
“Parantai is moving around with a title that was cancelled long ago by the National Land Commission. We are now ready to seek a new title ahead of the subdivision of Kibiko land,” said Mbelati.
He explained the trust does not necessarily require a land title before subdividing the community land to its members.