• About 40 armed vigilantes who were guarding the area drove away members of the Ruai Squatters Settlement Scheme who had regrouped to repossess the property.
• On Tuesday, a judge declared the eviction illegal and ordered the squatters back on the land. The opposing parties are claiming the property and are awaiting the outcome of a six-year old case.

Tension is high in Ruai after hundreds of evicted squatters sought to reclaim land that is at the centre of a dispute.

About 40 armed vigilantes who were guarding the area drove away members of the Ruai Squatters Settlement Scheme who had regrouped to repossess the property.

This was after the High Court gave an order barring private developers from accessing the expansive 1,600-acre piece of land initially owned by a colonial sisal farmer.

The developers, said to have the backing of State House and top security operatives, have been barred from evicting the squatters.

They have also been stopped from building on the site and erecting a perimeter wall around the plot.

On Tuesday, a judge declared the eviction illegal and ordered the squatters back on the land. The opposing parties are claiming the property and are awaiting the outcome of a six-year old case.

Families were ejected from the property “without a court order” but got a reprieve in a counter-injunction on Tuesday after a judge ordered them back on the property.

“Our lives are now in danger since yesterday (Tuesday).

“Two of our leaders have not slept at their homes after they were trailed from court by people who want to intimidate them,” said Mr Onesmus Mutinda, a member of the scheme.