Isahakia community in Naivasha decry injustices

NAIVASHA—The Isahakia (Issack) community in Naivasha are crying foul over unresolved historic injustices and land wrangles.

Speaking at Naivasha during a press conference, the community spokesman Ali Farah asked President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to intervene, saying over 60 members of the community have since died without getting any sort of resettlement. The community is the oldest in Naivasha.

Members of the community, most of who live as squatters in the sprawling KCC area of Naivasha , said they want their issues resolved.

A makeshift structure in the sprawling KCC vilage in Naivasha where the Isahakia community live as squaters.

The community said they arrived at the town in the 18th Century, yet they are not treated as locals with many pending cases of injustice bordering on land matters.

Ali Farah said the community, which at one time had a lot of cattle and vast land, could be wiped out before justice is served.

“All our diary cattle were sold by the colonial government at throw away prices and our land grabbed by government institutions and we are now seeking justice before we die,” he said, adding that they have all the needed paperwork to prove their case.

The community was in 2012, through a High Court directive, ordered to vacate a land claimed by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Karlo).  The orgernisation claimed that it want to use the land for research purpose, a claim rebuffed by the community which said the land was theirs. The evacuation order was dispensed by Lady Justice Lucy Waithaka of Nakuru High Court.