Nairobi — The Government will settle 5,000 landless people in Kirinyaga District in the next three weeks. Next week, the squatters will be issued with allotment letters after paying a Sh7,000 fee. Kirinyaga County Council chairman, Mr Waruri Nyaga, said each allottee would get a three-acre piece of land.

He said the Government surveryors are already at the site and called on the squatters to pay the fee. The 28,000 acres piece of land in South Ngariama has been under-utilised and Nyaga said the landless would benefi t from it. Meanwhile in Nyeri, at least 970 squatters will next month get their title deeds.

Nyeri Municipal Mayor, Cllr Wanyaga Gathaka, said all the landless people who stay in the 16 colonial villages will from February be issued with title deeds. Wanyaga said the Government was working on ensuring that all the landless people in the district are settled.

The area District Commissioner, Mr Michael Mwangi, said other squatters who live next to the Sagana State Lodge will also soon be allocated a piece of land. "The Government is looking for land to settle over 10,000 squatters living by the roadside in Nyeri," said Mwangi.

He said the move was a stop gap measure. "If enough land can be found to settle the 10,000 families, this will be a big step towards alleviating their problems. As it is now, we have to wait," said Mwangi. He said the families were languishing on narrow road reserves with no privacy or basic needs such as water and food.

They squatters were forcibly evicted out from forests in Mt Kenya and Aberdare forests after the Government outlawed non-residential cultivation in forests. The squatters lived in Chehe, Hombe, Zaina, Kiandongoro and Kakuret areas. Meanwhile, hundreds of families have migrated to Chepkitale forest in Trans Nzoia following increased violence in the neighbouring Mt Elgon District.

An Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) cleric, the Rev Maritim Rirei said the displaced families most of them women and children, were at risk of famine and disease unless urgent measures are taken.