Egu Kalinga residents in Samburu demand justice over 50-year land dispute
The ranch was formed in the early 1970s by bringing together seven villages: Egu, Dupharo, Nyacha, Dokata, Roka, Sirira, and Silaloni.
For more than 50 years, families in Egu Kalinga Village, Mackinnon Ward, Samburu Sub-County, have lived in fear of losing their homes.
The dispute over the 10,190-acre Duruma Group Ranch, which borders Tsavo East National Park, has left them landless and desperate, even though the land was once meant to secure their future.
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The ranch was formed in the early 1970s by bringing together seven villages: Egu, Dupharo, Nyacha, Dokata, Roka, Sirira, and Silaloni.
The aim was to improve the lives of the pastoralist community. But villagers say a powerful chief, now long dead, took advantage of the process.
In 1971, he is said to have changed the membership records, replaced rightful owners with his relatives, renamed the land Dokata Ranch Company, and used game rangers to force people out.
The only surviving founder of the ranch, Changoti Lugwe, remembers the betrayal clearly.
“We formed the ranch to help our community grow, but the chief tricked us. He removed our names and put his relatives instead. From that time, we have been treated as outsiders on our own land,” he said.
Egu Kalinga villagers protest the dispossession. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein)
Residents accuse the chief’s descendants, alongside some land officials in Kwale, of making the problem worse by illegally expanding the ranch. They say armed guards block them from using the land, leaving them without space to graze animals, plant crops, or build homes.
Michael Lugwe, 70, explained how the idea of the ranch came from the villagers themselves.
“We approached the chief with the plan. He agreed, helped with the registration, then turned against us. Since 1972, we have been left out. In 2000, we began pushing for justice, and eventually our case reached the National Land Commission through our main petitioner, Changoti Lugwe,” he said.
He added that their struggle is far from over.
“In 2021, we petitioned again, and in March this year, the NLC met with us. But until now, no decision has been made. We are asking the President to intervene and return the land to the community. Only then can we develop and improve our lives.”
Egu Kalinga villagers protest the dispossession. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein)
For many, the suffering is personal. “We are chased away like intruders. Our livestock have no land to graze, and we have no freedom to move. We are trapped,” said 61-year-old Agnes Nyae.
Older villagers share the same pain. “All we want is our land back. We have suffered for years. The chief mistreated us, and now his children are doing the same. They have expanded the ranch until there is no space left for us to build homes,” said one elder.
Another 80-year-old villager pleaded, “We want justice. The land should be given back to the community. NLC should help us because we are trapped, like people in the mouth of a crocodile with no escape.”
Their last hope lies with the National Land Commission, which they believe can finally end a dispute that has torn through their community for more than five decades.
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