This archive report was first published on 17 July 2019.
On August 10, 2018, a group of elders in Keiyo Valley performed a sacred ritual, laying curses on a powerful land cartel that had grabbed at least 1,500 acres of community land in Kerio Valley.
According to the elders, their petitions to state agencies to revoke title deeds and revert back the land to the community had failed, prompting them to resort to cursing the cartels.
Clan secretary Nicholas Kiplagat claimed that they were aware of a syndicate involving the National Land Commission and state government officials to grab communal lands in the valley.
The elders narrated that they recently discovered their communal land had been fraudulently registered by strangers and sold out to third parties in an intricate land racket.
During the ritual, a goat was slaughtered and the blood sprinkled on the land amid chanting of ritual songs, a practice carried out by selected elders with 'saint-like' behaviors among the Kalenjin.
Clan elders chairman Joel Kiptunoi warned the land grabbers, saying, 'Justice will be found. Those who grabbed our land may think they are powerful, but they will soon face the consequences and pay for their sins.'
