By MN Reporter
The Migori county government and local Catholic Church are embroiled in a bitter row over three parcels of land.
On 27 March, the tussle got out of hand when church members who went to cleanse a parcel at Rapogi heckled governor Okoth Obado when he tried to address them.
The dispute took a new dimension after Lands Ministry said the contested parcels of land belonged to the church.
Migori County Registrar of Lands Edward Bosire asserted controversial parcels of land in both Rapogi area in Uriri and Kitere where a polytechnic is located in Rongo belong to the church.
Another contested parcel is at Macalder in Nyatike constituency.
The registrar said the Katieno parcel number 23 in Rapogi, Uriri sub-county where Obado was heckled was reserved as an agricultural firm owned by the Catholic Church since the year 1948.
“The church has occupied the land for a long time now even before the post-independence land adjudication. It is without any contradiction that the ministry stands with the fact that the land is still owned by the church and it is still reserved as an agricultural farm which it was intended for,” said Bosire.
He faulted county for using archaic ways in acquiring the parcels and called them to follow the right channel by holding a talk at Homa Bay dioceses.
He was reacting to remarks by Obado of accusing his office for colluding with the church in the tussle.
Obado and his Lands Executive Elizabeth Ochaye said the land at Kitere Polytechnic belongs to the county since under the constitution; all polytechnics are under devolved governments.
“We are very saddened that the land registrar had colluded with some church officials and had issued falsified documentation on ownership of the land. Let it be known that all polytechnics belong to the County Governments and all the property is reserved by the counties,” said Obado.
On 27th March when hundreds of catholic faithful while demonstrating over that land in Rapogi said Obado is desperate to acquire land illegally without following the due process as required by the law.
Michael Odiwa, the church Vicar General said that the county government took bulldozers to the said piece of land on a day before heir demonstration and destroyed the ridges made in readiness of planting thus rendering them to a huge loss as an institution.
He said Obado had earlier sent a delegation to their Homa Bay head office asking to be given the portion of the land and when they refused and told them to follow the correct procedure of acquiring land, the church was astonished to see the county government work on it.
