Kenyan farmers evicted to make way for titanium mine

When Rogers Muema Nzioka, 48, received news that his 12-acre farm in Kenya's Kwale District was among those earmarked for titanium mining by Canadian firm Tiomin Resources Inc, he thought the discovery would be a turning-point for his life. And surely it has been, only that contrary to his expectations, the turn was for the worse. The discovery of titanium in the district and the subsequent entry of Tiomin Resources Inc and its Kenyan subsidiary Tiomin Kenya Ltd.
has devastated his life.

Today, Nzioka and his family are destitute, relying on handouts for survival. He was evicted from his farm without being paid a penny, although he was entitled to compensation after his farm was compulsorily acquired by the government. He is one of eight farmers whose parcels of land were compulsorily acquired after they declined the compensation package offered by Tiomin Kenya.

On April 13 this year,a demolition squad led by senior members of the provincial administration and security personnel descended on their farms and unleashed terror they had never witnessed before. They watched helplessly as bulldozers pulled down what was once their homes without giving them adequate time to remove personal belongings.

The events have devastated Nzioka, who is now bedridden after his kidney problem was aggravated by the stress after the eviction. He was in his house when the demolition squad arrived. "I had spent all the years building what they wanted to destroy in just a few minutes, so I thought would rather go with it," he says. But his wife convinced him to leave the main house before the bulldozers flattened it. He lost a three-room block, two double-room houses and a kitchen. After three days in the cold, Mr Nzioka sought refuge from a neighbour.

The Maumba and Nguluku farmers' struggle for fair compensation from Tiomin Kenya has been a battle that started more than 10 years ago. Initially, the farmers were supposed to be paid Sh9,000 an acre as compensation, but they declined the offer and demanded more than Sh80,000 an acre, to which the government finally agreed. Although most of the more than 300 farmers agreed to take the Sh80,000 per acre compensation, eight of them rejected the offer and challenged the decision in court.

Through a law firm, Nzioka sent a claim to the attorney-general demanding Sh11.7 million, the amount that had been arrived at by his private valuer. The amount included his late brother's share, as he left him with three children to care for. The government counter-offered about Sh2.4 million for the two plots of land. Mr Nzioka and other farmers lost the case and the Government put in place the process to compulsorily acquire their land.

According to the farmers' valuer, Gitonga Aritho, the claimants should be given adequate money to purchase new land and for infrastructural components. Justice Joseph Nyamu ruled that the government was justified in forcibly taking over land belonging to the eight farmers to allow for titanium mining. The farmers have now gone to court to challenge their eviction on grounds that they have not been compensated.

Daily Nation