Posta Grounds which have been hosting various
political rallies, religious crusades, public
demonstrations and all sorts of public gatherings have been known to be
the best venue where the people of Bungoma can meet and discuss anything
publicly.
Besides, Posta Grounds are the only open space in the
town which has been seriously and adversely affected by the demon of land
grabbing. Caught in the saga is Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi. Governor Kenneth
Lusaka is said to watching the unfolding events and does not want to take sides
due to political balancing acts.
But how did it come to this? The story, our
investigations can now reveal, is rooted in the same notorious land grabbing
frenzy which was rampant in the mid 1990s up to early 2000. Investigations further
reveal that although the teachers are adamant about the true ownership of the
plot, there is no doubt in the minds of Bungoma residents and history will bear
them out that the ground was initially owned by Bungoma Prison hence it was
owned by government of Kenya.
It is not clear how the plot found itself in the
ownership of teachers through their Ngarisha Sacco, the precursor to the
formerly trouble-ridden and financially crippled Bungoma Teachers Sacco.
Details are scanty but some say that one former district commissioner falsified
records of the piece of land in question to have it documented as free land and
thereafter, forged an approval from the then commissioner of lands or some
higher, unnamed authority and to finally disposed off the same land to the
teachers’ Sacco.
Following the suspicious and contentious sell of the
forged land to the teachers’ Sacco officials then being supported by their
former Knut branch secretary Fred Sichangi, who incidentally has been
spearheading demonstrations to maintain the status quo, started to recruit
interested members of the Sacco to buy plots which were to be hived off Posta
Grounds.
It is understood that the Sacco members who chose to
buy shares were initially allocated plots but
there are no such records and word is going around that Sichangi and a
few others who are keen at ensuring the Sacco keeps Posta Grounds are being
driven by the urge and greed to own a piece of prime land in the middle of
Bungoma town at the expense of the public of Bungoma. This approach has raised
eyebrows of teachers and some former Sacco employees who contributed money
directly to the Sacco but have no guarantee they are likely to get anything
hence the split.
It is said that during the tenure of Majimbo Okumu as
mayor of Bungoma, the teachers’ Sacco paid millions of shillings to the defunct
Bungoma municipal council in the form of land rates for the same plot and there
were questions then raised, sources reveal, as to whether that money ended up
in the council and if the land rates were authentic or not.
A former Sacco employee, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the teachers’ Sacco with the knowledge of some Knut officials
siphoned teachers’ funds from the Sacco under the guise of paying for land
rates when as a matter of fact, such payments should have been made by members
who had ostensibly bought shares to acquire plots from Posta Grounds.
A group of teachers who spoke anonymously and on the
sidelines of the demonstrations organised by Sichangi claimed that it cannot be
right for anybody to snatch a recreation facility like Posta Grounds by simply
throwing out a blanket cover of incitement that a teachers’ plot has been
stolen when on the contrary, it is a few people in the teaching fraternity who
are out to dupe the teachers and the public.
A resident of Uwanja Ndege who spoke on condition of
not being named suggested that regardless of whether the teachers have a title
deed or not, the lease as claimed by Knut officials is the only solution for
the matter to be investigated and if possible by the National Land Commission
to ensure that the crime of land grabbing perpetrated against Bungoma people is
brought under control.
Alphino Waluvi
who said he was born and brought up near Uwanja Ndege in Bungoma town, wondered
how anybody in his right sense would go against the interest of Bungoma people
by grabbing the only facility for their recreation.
“Webuye, Kakamega, Kitale and other towns in the
region have breathing space contrary to Bungoma where greedy people want to
take everything,” added Waluvi.
Separately, appeals have been made to Lusaka to steer
clear of any attempt to procure the controversial plot allegedly to appease and
please the teachers with some teachers and Knut officials claiming that to do
so, it would be to abet crime given the fact that those who reportedly procured
the plot have questions to answer about the million of shillings pumped in this
ghost project.
“It is not lost to observers that as the Sacco
fortunes dwindle, many members abandoned the Sacco like Metropolitan Teachers
Sacco from Kiambu, Kakamega Teachers Sacco and others which continue to thrive
and survive as our own continues to titter on the verge of collapse due to
theft,” added a disgruntled member.
Trouble has been looming in Bungoma town between the
public and a section of Knut members over the controversial acquisition of the
historic Bungoma Posta Grounds plot, which with the public vowing to eject Knut
officials from office over what they claimed was undue process with intent to
grab public land at the heart of Bungoma town.
Dissenting views have been expressed by members of the
public after the teachers demonstrated in town against area MP Wafula Wamunyinyi for having advocated the
return of the grounds back to public for a recreational facility that saw
Kanduyi constituency teachers boycott having read malice in the entire plan.
Angry residents engaged about 100 teachers in a demo
with stones at the heart of the town before police officers fired in the air to
disperse them after members of the public moved to the site where a perimeter
fence had been erected and pulled down the fence.
Paul Nademu, a teacher in Khasoko, said they had been
mislead into joining the demo that left scores of them injured. “We had been
called by these officials for a meeting in town only to be told to march in the
streets abusing the area MP,” he said.
According to the development plans of the defunct
Bungoma Municipal Council dating back to 1990s-2005, the area adjacent to the
railway (Posta grounds) was a designated Bus Park and was later reserved for
recreation. They have now been questioning how the teachers union connived with
the then councillors to sell this as private property. According to the
constitution of Kenya, the relevant legislation on how such land can be
repossessed has however not yet been drafted by parliament but the act on
acquisition of community land which Posta Grounds is controversially possessed
is clear that the county government should formaly inform the National Land
Commission which will then address the issue.
Angry residents however feel that as is common
practice elsewhere, they have a right to enter and evict members of the union.
Several facts are yet to be clear on how much the teachers through there Sacco
paid and under what circumstances they acquired the land in public interest of
Bungoma county against interests of 16
private plots demarcated to be shared by members that is also a query yet to be
answered.
Bungoma county has witnessed a history of grabbing of
public land. A case in point is the grabbing of the airstrip and hospital land
where Wamunyinyi, joined by the public residents evicted developers to save the
grounds where the current medical training institute is situated. Wamunyinyi
then MP, paid the price when he was arrested and detained at Mumias police
cells in a case that turned out to be fundamental to Bungoma people.
Efforts to get in touch with county government were
fruitless although sources confirmed that the governor is equally concerned
that the only recreational facility has been grabbed by private developers. The
source further said arriving to unanimous petitions from the public to reclaim
the land, the county government was considering a number of options.
Bungoma teachers have in the past invested in a number
of projects like hotels and burial and benevolent funds, but what is emerging
is that a number of these projects benefit a few selected individuals within
the teaching fraternity.
The once popular Tourist Hotel has already been leased
to private developers with majority of teachers saying the original members
have not received dividends. The acquisition of Posta grounds was to benefit a
few members to own plots at the heart of the town.
The history of Posta Grounds is long. Former president
Mwai Kibaki, the late VP Wamalwa Kijana, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Lusaka,
Moses Wetang’ula have in the past held
rallies here.
According to Wamunyinyi, historically, no public land
in Bungoma has been reverted to the public without public agitation recalling
that he was arrested to reclaim hospital land which is now serving the county
and its environs and soon will be elevated to a referral hospital.
He warned all those
occupying public land in his constituency to release them before he moves in
with the public to reclaim.
No comments:
Post a Comment