This archive report was first published on 23 October 2019.
Published on October 23, 2019, in The Standard.
For 77-year-old Bendeda Mayodi, the pain of being evicted from her ancestral land in Mbale village, Vihiga, in 1984 still lingers. The government promised to resettle her and thousands of other families, but decades later, they have yet to receive title deeds to prove ownership of their new land.
Mayodi's story is not unique. Over 5,000 families were evicted from their land in Mbale, Bokoli, Mululu, and surrounding areas to make way for government facilities. The families were promised seven acres of land in a new resettlement, but they have yet to receive any documents to prove ownership.
Today, Mayodi and her fellow villagers face a second eviction, with the government claiming that the land they occupy is part of the Kakamega Forest. They have until January to vacate their homes, but they have nowhere to go.
"I am now faced with the same fate I faced 35 years ago. I have to leave my husband's grave behind, which is a taboo," Mayodi said.
Mayodi's husband died two years ago, and she is now left to face the uncertainty of her future. She is not alone. Fredrick Manoah Egunza, 79, and chairman of the All Maragoli Community, which consists of families displaced from their ancestral land, also faces the same dilemma.
"We were told to move and before we knew it, bulldozers were bringing down our houses and we had to run for our lives," Egunza recounted.
The government's promise to resettle evicted villagers has been a lie, according to Egunza. The families have been pursuing ownership documents for many years without success.
Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo has promised to intervene, but the villagers are fast running out of options. They have moved to court to challenge their eviction, but the wheels of justice turn slowly.
Only time will tell if the courts or the governor's letters will save Mayodi and the rest of the villagers from a second eviction.
