The only gazzetted landing beach in Lake Naivasha now faces closure after a developer took over the land where the facility is located.
Also affected by the controversial move is the town’s sewerage plant with Nakuru county government terming the takeover as illegal.
Following the move fishermen and traders from Central landing beach held a peaceful demonstration to protest the move which saw eight of their colleagues arrested by police.
According to documents handed over to the county, Purslane Company had bought the 111 hectares at a cost of Sh200m from unknown individuals.
Addressing the traders, Naivasha sub-county administrator Samuel Wamae noted that the CEC for land and the county attorney had taken over the matter.
He said that the land in question was public property which was meant for expansion of the sewer plant and the landing beach.
“This is the only gazetted landing beach in Naivasha and the move to grab it is illegal and the county will definitely revoke the title deed,” he said.
Wamae expressed his concern on how the developer managed to obtain a title deed on the land which was known to be public land.
“The developer has fenced part of the land and in the process some of the youths and traders around Central landing beach have been arrested and this is illegal,” he said.
The chairman of central landing beach Paul Olang said that they were working in fear due to harassment and threats imposed by the developer’s security guards.
He noted that the access road to their beach had been blocked forcing them to seek alternative routes to the popular beach.
“The developer is using the police to intimidate us and as of now business has been paralyzed after eight of our colleagues were arrested,” he said.
Olang added that they would not resume duty until the issue of the beach was fully addressed and their colleagues released from police cells.
Another trader Joseph Kimani noted that the beach employed tens of area residents and that its closure spelled doom for them and their families.
He added that they were recently displaced by the rising waters of the lake only for the employer to come in and fence the land where the landing beach is located.
“We are being oppressed because we are poor and we are asking the county government to come to our rescue before we are displaced again,” he said.