By Reuben Olita
A family that had lived in a piece of land at Viabu farm Namanjalala in Trans Nzoia County has sent a passionate plea to President William Ruto to intervene and have the land revert to them.
Addressing the press in Amagoro, Teso North Sub County today (Monday), Susan Kavetsa Karoli claimed a tycoon displaced them from the one acre piece of land before fencing it and planting napper grass.
“The Catholic Diocese of Edoret gave us the one acre piece of land where we have lived for nearly three decades before the unexpected occurred, and more so my late mother Nastanzia Busolo was buried in the same land,” Karoli said.
Susan said, following hue and cries from affected families they were moved downstream, which is waterlogged , with each of them allocated a half an acre by the tycoon.
While regretting the latest turn of events, Karoli urged the President to give them an alternative piece of land to rebury their mother’s remains.
“I am saddened by the move the tycoon took of flattening our land, including our mother’s grave. Where
will my father, Karoli Shikami Musotso, be buried because our mother’s remains are in the alternative land? She wondered.
She added:” Where do I start from locating my mother’s grave? I have nowhere to go, my brothers have nowhere to go. The law is very clear that if one stays in a shamba for over 10 years, it becomes yours.”
Susan Kavetsa Karoli
Susan said they knew that was their land given to them during the late President Moi’s era, thus the reason they buried their mother there and not in the cemetery.
” I lived in the piece of land since the age of 18, and I am now 44. Where will I take my children and grandchildren? She wondered, calling for justice to prevail.
Meanwhile, Susan has also urged the government to address the issue of street families across the country by carrying out investigations to establish their biological fathers.
” I am a victim of these beasts who impregnate girls and fail to take parental responsibilities. Street families are suffering out there, and yet they have their biological fathers who walk scot-free,” she noted.
She added:” It pains me to see people with posh cars give lifts to disabled or blind girls from streets to sleep with them. They fail to take responsibility after impregnating them.
Susan said insecurity in Busia County has taken its toll because of chokoras, majority being Ugandans, noting that they steal anything they come across in peoples’ homes, be it sufurias which they carry away as scrape metal.
Susan also urged the county government of Busia to put restrictions on hawkers from Uganda entering the country at the porous border points, adding that Kenyan hawkers are barred from hawking in Uganda.
