Kipsigis Clans Give State 30 Days To Return Ancestral Land Or Face Court Action

By Elijah Cherutich

Thousands of Kipsigis families could gain control of ancestral land occupied by multinational farms after elders representing more than 200 clans instructed lawyers to begin legal action against the government.

More than 20 lawyers acting for the Kipsigis Community Clans Organization said the elders had authorized them to seek court orders transferring disputed land in Kericho and Bomet counties to community ownership.

Speaking in Nakuru, lawyer Benhard Kipkoech Ngetich said the legal team had given the government 30 days to address the dispute, failing which it would file a constitutional case over the land currently occupied by large-scale agricultural companies.

The lawyers said the community was seeking absolute ownership rather than compensation. They want the land registered under a community title, which would allow members to determine its management, use and any future leasing arrangements.

“The elders want justice for their community, they have engaged political leaders extensively but have not made progress and that is why they have given us instructions to institute legal proceedings on this land in Kericho and Bomet”, he said.

Ngetich said the community had expected the land to be restored after Kenya gained independence in 1963 but had remained excluded from its ownership and economic benefits while multinational companies continued operating on it.

The threatened suit is the latest phase of a long-running dispute involving land under large-scale tea estates. In April 2026, representatives of about 200 Kipsigis clans renewed demands for the land to be registered under community ownership and managed collectively for current and future generations.

Kipkoech Chebusit Arap Keter, one of the lawyers representing the elders, said the advocates would provide their services without charging the community. He said the case would seek to enforce what the lawyers described as the community’s constitutional, economic and cultural rights.

“We are not pursuing any compensation on the land but rather we are asking for absolute ownership back to the community, the fertile land will benefit them a lot and that is why we are taking the route”, he said.

The community’s historical claims have previously been considered by the National Land Commission and Parliament. A petition presented to the Senate in March 2023 alleged that the colonial government forcibly removed Kipsigis families from land around Kericho, Kerenga and Tagabi and transferred it to British settlers and companies. It said the land remained under the control of the estates after independence.

In findings published in the Kenya Gazette in March 2019, the National Land Commission allowed historical-injustice claims lodged on behalf of the Kipsigis and Talai communities. It recommended a resurvey of land held by tea estates to establish whether there was surplus land or residue that could be held in trust by county governments for community and public purposes.

The commission also recommended that lease renewals be withheld until agreements were reached with the Kericho and Bomet county governments, that land rates and rents be increased and that 999-year leases be converted to 99 years as required by the Constitution. The findings did not order the wholesale transfer of all tea-estate land to the community.

Large-scale tea producers challenged the commission’s findings, arguing that they had not been given an adequate opportunity to present their case. The High Court later quashed the determination, according to a Senate committee report, prompting the Kericho County Government to lodge an appeal.

In August 2023, the Senate Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee recommended that the National Land Commission reopen the investigation and hear all parties, including the complainants and the affected tea companies. It also sought ownership and mapping records for land held by 11 large-scale tea producers in Kericho, Bomet and Nandi counties.

Ngetich said the proposed proceedings would not target individual investors but would seek a judicial determination on the community’s ownership claim and its right to benefit from land inherited from previous generations.

“This battle is not a war on any individuals but rather rights of the community to enjoy their heritage they got from their great grandfathers”, he said.

The lawyers said they would ask the court to certify the dispute as raising substantial constitutional questions before requesting Chief Justice Martha Koome to assign a bench of at least three judges.

Under Article 165(4) of the Constitution, a matter certified by a court as raising a substantial question of law must be heard by an uneven number of judges, not fewer than three, assigned by the Chief Justice.