Kenya: Govt. agency stops salt mining companies' expansion plans pending resolution of land disputes with locals
"Salt processors halt expansion plans in row over land ownership"
Troubled salt firms in Marereni area of Kilifi County have been ordered to put on hold their expansion plans until the National Land Commission (NLC) gives its verdict on the local community’s protest against encroachment on surrounding parcels of land. The NLC Chairman, Muhammad Swazuri, says there have been land ownership disputes between the locals and the salt firm owners stretching back over 30 years now.
Prof Swazuri says the local people claim that the salt companies which include Kilifi Salt, Kensalt, Kurawa Salt and Kaysalt (Crystalline Salt) have encroached on their ancestral land. Over 20,000 people, the locals claim, have since been forcefully evicted from the salt mine areas. “As a result there have been skirmishes between these two groups, the investors and the locals. We have ordered the salt manufactures to comply until we make a determination on May 30,” said Prof Swazuri in an interview.
Kaysalt’s Financial Controller, Sanjeev Modi, said he was not aware of the directive. Prof Swazuri says that the area residents accuse the salt manufacturers of forceful entry into their ancestral land which borders the Indian Ocean, denying them access to fishing areas.