Leaders call on government not to renew KAKUZI land lease in what they term as exploitation of neighbouring communities.

Gatanga MP Joseph Duati and Kakuzi/Mitumbili ward MCA Pelacia Muthoni at Kinyangi primary school officially opening a new classroom and a toilet build through CDF

Kinyangi village in the midst of a British owned company in the name Kakuzi Company Ltd. has been in the news for all wrong reasons. 

The cries of the poor slum dwellers who are living not like human beings but rather like "wild beasts" has drawn the attention of their elected leaders who visited the almost falling shanty village that stands without hope. Kinyangi village is beseeched, abandoned, segregated and neglected with the dwellers living in a very pathetic state sharing their foods with the marauding monkeys who have invaded the village over the years.

The residents led by Peter Murigi who is squatters chairman claimed that the monkeys were brought in a lorry and dropped to torment them that they may leave what they believe was their ancestral land. 

Murigi said the company had blocked all access roads and are forced to acquire a gate-pass to access their homes. He also said many girls have dropped out of school and others married at an early stage due to poverty.

The chairman also said the residents are forced to cover their broken houses with papers and sacks as they are prohibited by the company to repair their houses, instead he said they were supposed to leave whenever their houses fall.

They live in what they refer to as "self-confused houses" together with their children with no toilets at all and what they use instead is a what they refer to as "flying toilets" where they put their human waste in the banned paper bags, pretend to be on a journey then throw it into the forest.

Gatanga MP Joseph Duati Ngugi together with Kakuzi/Mitumbili ward MCA Pelagia Muthoni and other leaders visited the village and met with the angry residents as they commissioned a new class and a new toilet build through CDF for Kinyangi primary school which had also been neglected for so long. 

Kinyangi and Gititu primary schools are among the surrounding schools Kakuzi Ltd claim stand in their land and which the MP ordered the company to release their title deeds as they are public schools which the government want to pump millions of money to change their status. Kinyangi primary school was ranked the last in Muranga country in last year's KCPE.

The residents claimed this was contributed by the poor environment both at home and in school where the pupils study in difficulty situations. They also divulged that the pupils travel long distances as approximately 3000 IDPs live on the leeward side of the expansive Kakuzi hills after they were forcefully evicted by the Kakuzi Company Ltd years back.

The MP and the MCA assured the residents that the government would launch investigations on claims that school girls and women were being attacked and sexually assaulted by Kakuzi guards as they pass through the thick expansive forest adding that action would be taken if the truth is established.

They also said the residents would be settled soon saying negotiations by both county and national governments and the Kakuzi company were in top gear. The MP however said he has petitioned parliament over the same saying 55 years after independence the government will not allow a foreign company to continue tormenting Kenyans. 

However, Kakuzi management have ever denied these allegations with Simon Odhiambo who is the operation manager saying. Kakuzi PLC has no control over the people who are living on this piece of land Kinyangi.

He said the piece of land in question is adjacent to a public road (D424) and that Kakuzi does not control any access along this road or any other public road on its property.

He also said Kakuzi PLC has made the relevant authorities aware of the people living at Kinyangi and that they are not responsible for the poor conditions the people live in.