Photo: Raila Odinga and president William Ruto unveil a housing project in Kisumu.
A fresh storm is brewing over Raila’s move to donate a five acre piece of land in Kisumu to the state to be used for construction of affordable housing units.
The deal has turned sour after a push back from members of the Korando and Kogony clans who are now claiming that Raila Odinga does not own the land.
While speaking to the media, the secretary general of the Kisumu Welfare Association George Weda stated that the two clans donated a 285 – acre piece of land to the government back in 1979 to be used for the construction of a molasses plant.
According to documents cited by clan elders and the Kisumu Welfare Association, the 285 – acre piece of land was acquired by then Foreign Affairs cabinet secretary Dr Robert Ouko on behalf of the state.
The state was to hold the land in trust for the benefit of the two clans as it developed the molasses plant. At the end of the project, the land was to be given back to the community according to the stipulations of the Land’s Trust Act ( CAP. 288).
Unfortunately, the plant stalled in the 1980s after the project became unviable. The land was supposed to be given back to the community but it wasn’t.
Come to 1990’s Raila Odinga through his company Kisumu Development Trust participated in an auction where the molasses plant’s assets were on the line. The Raila Odinga family won the auction and took over the assets of the plant.
But Mr George Weda now claims that the Odinga family acquired the assets of the company excluding land. The land belonged to the community.
Photo: Raila Odinga and William Ruto in a recent rally in Kisumu.
The 5-acre land donated by Raila to the state last week is part of the 285 – acre land that belonged to the Korando and Kogony clans.
The group maintains that Raila does not own the land. It has issued four key demands that it wants addressed; they want an audit of the true land ownership, fair compensation for the land, community participation in the project and thorough environmental impact assessment of the housing project.
Source: NATION
