Tana residents face eviction as salt firm claim their 300-acre land

Over 5,000 residents of Tana Korole village in Tana River County face eviction threats from a salt mining firm, digging trenches on their farms to expand its mining operations.

The villagers said the firm has also redirected seawater to villages, posing environmental and health hazards to the villagers.

One of the affected persons, Mohamed Nagei, said a government school in the area had not been spared. He said the firm was using police officers to harass them.

“Every day we are told that we are squatters. The firm has cleared our grazing and farmlands and directed saltwater there. We are appealing for help from the government," he said. 

Garsen West Member of County Assembly (MCA) Mahmud Gabo said that he will table a motion at the Tana River County Assembly, demanding answers over the disputed land. 

“This project is illegal, and I will table the motion at the assembly so that we can evict the firm before they evict us. Our people have stayed here for more than 30 years,” he said. 

Former Garsen MP Ibrahim Sane warned that if the government failed to act, the people would defend their right to land. 

“This is not about politics but about our livelihood, and a solution must be arrived at very soon because we will not allow people to invade our land and displace us,” he said. 

Garsen MP Ali Wario assured the residents that leaders will protect them from plans to evict them, adding that they will be given land title deeds so that they stay without fear on their land. 

Bura MP Yakub Ado, who sits in the Environment, Mining, and Forestry departmental committee in the National Assembly, said that he will present the matter to the committee. 

“I sit on the Environment, Mining, and Forestry Committee, and Wario sits on the Lands Committee, and we will ensure that the two committees visit here to collect evidence of human rights abuses and environmental degradation,” he said.