Siaya — The Yala swamp community in Siaya County has petitioned the National Land Commission to revoke a 99-year-old lease of the wetland to a private developer.

A three-day sitting organised by the Commission to collect public views on whether to give out the riparian land to developers heard that instead, the wetland should be registered as a community land as is the case in most parts of the country.

The community, through lawyer Dismas Wambola and the executive director of the Community Action Group, Chris Owala told the commission that unscrupulous individuals at the Siaya county government had duped the locals and entered into an illegal deal that saw the lease of the land to M/s. Lake Agro Company that has been undertaking sugar cane growing activities.

They lamented that the land, previously leased to American firm, Dominion Group that was undertaking rice growing, was unconstitutionally leased to the new developers without the knowledge of the locals as no public participation was done.

Wambola told the hearing that was co-chaired by a member of the Commission, Mr Reginald Okumu and Esther Murugi that the county government leadership has assumed that public land belongs to them and they could do anything they want with it without involving the community.

"The mistakes that the county governments makes is to think that public land belongs to them and therefore the community does not know the value," he said.

He said that the County Assembly of Siaya has never approved any land use plan within the wetland and urged the commission to heed the community request.

CIAG executive director, Chris Owala said the activities of the investor will lead to the collapse of the ecosystem.

Owala said that the community can not support what amounts to auction of their birth right, bequeathed on them by their ancestors.

National Land Commission's Reginald Okumu said that his team will collate all the views and come up with an independent decision.

He said that the team had heard from the locals, conservation groups, and the county government among other institutions.

NLC Commissioner, Esther Murugi said among issues of concern that came up were lack of approval of the land use plan by the County Assembly of Siaya. - Kna