Kilifi's Mwendo wa Panya residents petition MPs to help reclaim lost ancestral land
The Mwendo wa Panya community continues to hope that Parliament will listen to their plea and help them recover the land they have called home for over a century.
Families in Mwendo wa Panya village, Kilifi South, have asked the National Assembly to step in and help them reclaim their ancestral land, which they say was taken from them without warning or consent.
They claim they have faced harassment and eviction since 2021, and are now calling on the legislators to investigate how the land was transferred to private individuals.
The petition was formally presented to the Public Petitions Committee by Kilifi South MP Kenneth Chonga on Wednesday, who said the matter affects over 1,000 villagers in Mtepeni Ward.
According to him, the land is not only home to generations of families but also contains schools, health centres, farmland, a community cemetery and a sacred shrine that once sheltered people running from slave traders in the 19th century.
Chonga told the committee that Mwendo wa Panya was founded around 1908 by a man named Athman Suleiman, who offered refuge to locals escaping slave traders.
The settlement, he said, was later handed over to residents by Athman's family when they left for Oman in the early 1900s.
“The land in question was entrusted to the residents of Mwendo Wa Panya by the Athman family upon their return to Oman in the early 1900s,” Chonga said.
He also alleged that “it is persons at the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission who have colluded with the three parties to deprive residents of their rightful ancestral home.”
The villagers claim that their land was illegally registered to three individuals: Mark Mwaura Mwangi, Charles K. Wanguhu, and John Waweru Mwangi, without the community’s knowledge.
Landless and vulnerable
They say efforts to resolve the matter through relevant agencies have failed, and that they remain landless and vulnerable.
According to the petition, Mwendo wa Panya has long served as a safe space for the local community, passed down through generations.
The residents say the land is not just about ownership but about cultural and historical ties. They insist that losing the land amounts to losing part of their identity.
Chonga urged the committee to begin investigations into the entire registration process to determine how the land changed hands without consulting the residents.
He further asked the Ministry of Lands, Public Works and Urban Development, as well as the National Land Commission, to work on properly subdividing the land and issuing title deeds to the affected families.
Committee members raised concerns about why the community had never secured formal ownership of the land over the years.
Some questioned whether the delay in acquiring title deeds may have contributed to their vulnerability.
Mbeere South MP Nerbert Muriuki cited the law that allows people who have occupied land for at least 12 years to be considered for ownership.
“What steps have the displaced individuals taken to secure titles to the land? Where have they been all these years?” he asked.
In response, Chonga blamed powerful individuals for blocking efforts by the community to get official ownership, saying their actions have frustrated the villagers’ attempts to reclaim their land.
Committee Chairperson Kavai Kagesi instructed the petitioner to provide more current and detailed information about the land’s status and its history. This, he said, would help guide the committee as it reviews the case and considers what action to take.
The Mwendo wa Panya community continues to hope that Parliament will listen to their plea and help them recover the land they have called home for over a century.
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