County government joins the public in demanding for review of Yala swamp lease

Siaya,

Thursday, September 21, 2023

KNA by Philip Onyango 

Siaya county government has joined the civil society and the community around Yala swamp in demanding for a review of a lease agreement that gave a private developer the right to use part of the wetland for 66 years. 

According to resolutions of separate meetings between Governor James Orengo and the civil society groups and the Yala swamp community, a lease signed by the national government and the investor, Lake Agro limited was in contravention of the law that required that the signatories of such agreement be county government and the National Lands Commission. 

Governor Orengo said that he has had several meetings with both the Ministry of Lands and the NLC officials and even scrutinized the documents and there was nowhere the two bodies’ representatives appended their signatures to approve the deal. 

He said that instead, it was the Minister for Lands who signed the document contrary to the laws governing community lands. 

The governor announced the formation of a taskforce that would consist of community representatives and the county government.

The taskforce, he added, would formulate conditions to be met in order to resolve the longstanding dispute. 

“If these conditions are not met, then we shall not agree that this community land be leased to any investor or entity,” said the governor. 

Among the conditions, he said, was the need to prioritize community interest, clear demarcation of the wetland and respect to ancestral shrines. 

Orengo further said that the county government has not been benefitting from the lease as the developer was not remitting any money to the devolved unit but was instead paying rates to the national government. 

“All monies owed to the county government of Siaya, from the days of Dominion Farms Limited to date, must be paid in full,” said the governor. 

He termed as ridiculous a rate of Sh125 per acre per annum that the developer is charged for use of the land, adding that this must be reviewed upwards. 

The chairman of the Yala swamp community Fredrick Ochieng Okumu faulted those behind the lease for not taking care of the community interest and demanded that the land reverts back to them. 

He accused the investor currently working on the wetland of harassing the community through arbitrary closure of public roads and failure to work on the drainage hence flooding people’s farms. 

The civil society, through the Friends of Yala Swamp, called on the government to come in the open and tell Kenyans who were the beneficiaries of the wetland resources. 

 “We want justice for the community. Whatever goes on in the swamp must take care of community interests,” said Friends of Yala Swamp’s Susan Otieno. 

Her colleague, Chris Owala accused the Ministry of Lands of colluding with the investor to take away the Siaya county resource. 

Owala said that the Yala wetland was a fragile ecosystem that was crucial in the climate change agenda and must be handled with a lot of care through consultation with the community. 

Kituo Cha Sheria’s representative Nelius Njuguna said it was obvious that there was no consultation in the process hence the public outcry and supported calls for the cancellation of the lease. 

Courtesy; KNA