Over 240 Ang'ata Barikoi residents in Narok move to court over revocation of land titles by NLC
In their suit, the Ang'ata Barikoi farmers claim they were allocated land through an adjudication process declared in 1986, and were subsequently issued with title deeds — a process they argue affirmed their ownership rights under the 2010 Constitution.
More than 240 residents of Narok have filed a lawsuit challenging the National Land Commission’s (NLC) decision to revoke their land titles.
In court documents, the Ang'ata Barikoi Farmers' Co-operative Society and 243 members are seeking orders to quash the NLC’s decision, alongside conservatory orders restraining the NLC and other respondents from interfering with their land titles.
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"The court is requested to issue conservatory orders directing the NLC, Tende Community Welfare Association, the Attorney General, and the interested parties from interfering with the titles of Ang'ata Barikoi Farmers," the documents state.
The petition lists the NLC, Tende Community Welfare Association, and the Attorney General as respondents. The Chief Land Registrar, Ministry of Lands, Director of Settlement and Adjudication, and Munyonge Hana Haki are listed as interested parties.
In their suit, the Ang'ata Barikoi farmers claim they were allocated land through an adjudication process declared in 1986, and were subsequently issued with title deeds — a process they argue affirmed their ownership rights under the 2010 Constitution.
The farmers assert that the Tende community did not challenge the adjudication process at the time, and the NLC’s recent recommendation to cancel or revoke their titles came as a complete surprise.
In response, the NLC said it received a complaint of historical land injustice from the Tende community, which was registered as Historical Land Injustice Reference No. NLC/HLI/019/2017. The commission said the community claimed that in 1946, members of the Kuria community purchased a portion of land from the Siria Maasai through a livestock exchange, and a boundary was subsequently demarcated.
"The original inhabitants of the portion of land known as the Section C Adjudication and Ang'ata Barikoi Adjudication Sections were the Tende people, a clan within the Kuria community," court documents state.
The Tende community contends that during the 1980s adjudication process, land reserved for the Siria Maasai and Kuria communities was instead allocated to other communities, who received large parcels of land. As a result, the Kuria community, including the Tende, were forcibly evicted from their ancestral land, constituting what they describe as a historical injustice.
The NLC stated that it conducted hearings, including input from members of the Ang'ata Barikoi Farmers’ Society, and after thorough investigations, concluded that a historical land injustice had indeed occurred against the Tende community.
While acknowledging that Ang'ata Barikoi members possess valid title deeds, the NLC argued that their rights to property under Article 40 of the Constitution are not absolute, particularly if the property was acquired irregularly, illegally, or through historical injustice.
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