Kitui South residents of Kiteta village in Kyatune location are crying for justice after a 19-year journey of land wrangles with one foreign tycoon resulted into worst.
The village which has about 350 people occupying approximately 500 acres are being forced to move out of their ancestral land by one tycoon from the area. How ruthless people can be.
Their cries escalated after the sale of a graveyard belonging to one late Mutuku Mutunga, where skulls were excavated and ferried with Chinese trucks and taken to the road construction site, something which hurt the residents.
“Skulls among other body parts of human skeleton from different dead bodies used to be ferried daily by the (Chinese company) trucks to the construction site of the road, something that we feel is a disgrace and disrespect of the highest order to the dead,” one of the neighbors said.
The tycoon claimed possession of the graveyard and says that he sold the land to a Chinese company Synohydro, which is constructing the Kibwezi-Kitui road.
Contrary, the villagers claim that the graveyard belonging to the family of the late Mutuku Mutunga and accommodates 36 graves; some of them have been destroyed.
The late Ngenea Mutuku, who was the third wife of the deceased, had been in court battling for the full ownership of the land; the case is however still ongoing. Her skeletons were reportedly among those that were exhumed at the grave site
THE VERDICT
Before her demise, the court had ruled in her favor, granting her full ownership of the land. The verdict which was issued on June 26, 1991, determined a ruling that was signed by then Mutomo District Commissioner Mr. Martin Oloo among other four key witnesses whose signatures were appended.
Despite the court ruling, the battle over the land reemerged with the tycoon who went on to involve the members of the clan but they ruled in favour of the widow.
After further interrogations, it was established that the death of Mutuku Mutunga and his first two wives may have motivated the tycoon to ignite battle for ownership of Kiteta village.
Miss Mukai, one of the residents, reported that even today she still counts the loss of having all her 14 houses razed to the ground.
“The paid goons who razed my home forced my husband to vacate our ancestral land, a situation that forced me to move to court to see whether justice could be found to relieve our pain, but we never reached any solution, I think the truth may have been compromised,” Mukai alleged.
Maria Mutuku is the only remaining family member from the home who has been left to follow the matter, and she pleads with the government to come in and ensure her children do not remain homeless
However, the Chinese company manager Mr. Li denied any knowledge of the issue.
Mutomo deputy County commissioner Jacob Ouma also said that the matter had not been reported to his office.
He however said he would follow up the matter and attempt to reconcile the rival parties.