Over 10,000 residents at Kwa Bulo area in Nyali constituency in Mombasa county want the government to come to their rescue over a land ownership raw.  

The residents are living in fear and panic after the expiry of a 41 days notice given to them by a cash strapped insurance firm to vacate the 85 acres parcel of land they had been living on.

The dispute over the controversial Kwa Bulo land started when the current Mombasa governor Hassan Ali Joho was the Kisauni legislator before  the constituency was split in two, Nyali and Kisauni constituencies in 2001.

Former Lands minister during the coalition government under retired President Mwai Kibaki, James Orengo, had visited the area and assured the residents that their land issue would be resolved.

Village elder Abdallah Show said the cash strapped Kenya National Assurance company has come out to claim ownership of the land.

He said the state corporation has dismissed residents on the land as squatters giving them the  alternative to pay land rates or vacate the land.

'The notice to pay land rates has come to us as a shock because we have been living on our ancestral land,' he pointed out.

Shamila Aziz wondered why the land saga has surfaced when the general election is around the corner and not before.

She insisted the residents are tired of being taken for a ride and in circles whenever general elections are near.

On his part, Mombasa businessman Said ‘Saido’ Abdalla said he regrets that disputes over land have become perennial in the constituency and in Mombasa county at large.

He pointed out the constituency is leading with eviction notices which have been spreading panic among the electorate ahead of this year's polls.

'To make matters worse the residents are subjected to threats of eviction if they fail to pay the land rates,' he pointed out.

The Mombasa businessman urged the  government to intervene in the land dispute in the area.

Said said he is concerned with the rising number of land disputes in the area ahead of the polls.