Angry residents have dared Siaya Governor James Orengo to face them at the ballot box, threatening a total voter boycott if his administration fails to secure the future of the Yala Swamp.
Speaking in Kadenge, in a series of highly charged community gatherings, elders and locals issued a fierce ultimatum, demanding the immediate release of the Land Inventory Letter required to formally register the swamp as community land.
”Forget you will ever see a vote from Kadenge,” warned Joseph Obuong, a local elder, echoing the community’s shifting political stance.
Frustrations reached a peak as elderly women threatened to march on foot from Kadenge to the county headquarters to occupy the Governor’s office.
“We will walk on foot, and that day we will not leave your office without a title deed,” warned Margaret Achieng, a local resident.
The dispute centers on the implementation of the Community Land Act 2016, which grants local communities the right to legally manage and protect their ancestral heritage.
However, the registration process has hit a bureaucratic brick wall at the county headquarters. Without the county’s official inventory letter, the National Land Commission (NLC) cannot move forward with titling.
”This is not a political request; it is a fundamental statutory right,” stated
Bernard Ogeya Mugele, a community chairman, noting that residents have already established land management structures and mobilized overseers.
Community leaders warn that the ongoing stalemate leaves their ancestral land highly exposed to illegal encroachment and irregular allocations, while stalling vital, community-driven conservation strategies.
Elders emphasized that the Yala Delta is the only resource capable of truly stimulating the local economy, making the title deed a matter of survival.
The community has officially given the county government a strict 14-day window to forward the necessary documentation to the NLC.
As signatures are compiled across various sub-counties, wards, and villages, residents are preparing to launch formal petitions.
For Governor Orengo, the clock is ticking to see if his administration will yield to the community’s demands or face unprecedented local resistance.
