Five people are nursing injuries following a clash by two rival groups over a piece of land involving the Kipchoge Keino and Kipkorom Kemboi families in Eldoret on Monday.
Police used tear gas canisters and live ammunition to disperse a mob blocking the demolition of buildings on the land that was the subject of a legal dispute between the two rival groups.
“Tunakuomba kabisa William Ruto kuja hapa utusaidie tunaumia tunaumizwa na mapolisi. Tunaomba tafadhali rais kanyaga hapa, Gachagua kanyaga hapa ndio tujue ukweli iko wapi,” Kipkorom’s grand daughter Lilian Kemboi said.
“July tena tukashinda kesi tumekuja kwa shamba tumekuja na land registrar tumekuja na county surveyor tumekuja na polisi tumekuja tukapima shamba tukaweka perimeters kila mtu amekaa side yake,” said Kikorom’s son Noah Kipkorom.
The disagreement began shortly after an Eldoret court's order on Monday, which stayed an earlier decision made in July that gave the Kipkorom family ownership of the contested item.
However, Keino had obtained a provisional injunction on Tuesday of last week through his solicitors, prohibiting the subdivision of the 150-acre parcel that was the subject of the dispute.
In July, the Kipkorom family received 150 of the 195 acres that veteran athlete Kipchoge Keino had sought to claim.
Kemboi's family also obtained orders from an Eldoret court suspending the July decision that ordered the land be restricted and 40 acres be left for Kipchoge Keino out of frustration over today's events.
Before the Land and Environment Court, Kipchoge had appealed. The 195-acre farm near Kazi Mingi, where the retired athlete lives and operates the Olympic-certified Kipchoge Keino high-performance training facility, is claimed by him as his own.
