Homabay residents on strike affect schedule of Fly 540 aircraft: The Standard

Services were paralyzed on the Kabunde landing strip in Homa Bay County after residents protested to claim compensation for their land.

Hundreds of residents gathered on the runway Monday morning and ceased operations.
Residents accused the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) of refusing to compensate them for the land used for the construction of the runway more than two years ago.
The protesters stopped air services on the runway for a while.
An aircraft belonging to the Fly 540 that was to land from Nairobi at 7:25 am was delayed by more than an hour.
He arrived around 8:30 and took only five minutes to take off instead of the usual 30 minutes.
The pbadengers were unhappy with the delay.
"The delay affected us negatively and the KAA should respond to the grievances of these people," said businessman William Omburo, who was traveling to Nairobi.
The protesters led by the chairman of the Kabunde Landowners Association, Joseph Muga, the spokesman Charles Okumu, the MCA of the region, Julius Nyambok, and the human rights activist, Walter Opiyo, said the KAA had refused to compensate 120 people whose land had been used for the construction of the track.
They sang songs moving from one part of the landing strip to another to express their grievances.
"Tunakata haki yetu! Tumekataa huduma za KAA! " they sang.
Muga said they had resorted to protests after several meetings with the KAA on the issue bore fruit.
"This case started in 2016 and we have had many meetings with KAA to compensate us, but we have only false promises," said Muga.
He expressed concern that KAA has arrested 25 property titles of residents despite the situation.
"The KAA has gone ahead, took title to 25 landowners and detained them so far in Nairobi. It's a joke, "added Muga.
Okumu said that they had issued a weeklong ultimatum to the KAA to solve the problem.
He asked KAA to return the title deeds and to give up the land.
"We are going to court after a week if KAA does not return the title deeds and does not give up the land because it does not want to compensate us," Okumu said.
Nyambok claimed that the KAA had deprived the inhabitants of their land.
He argued that there was nothing to allow KAA to acquire the lands of the residents and to hold their title without compensation.
"Landowners can not use their title deeds as a loan guarantee or to make any economic gain because KAA is undertaking its project in the field," said Nyambok.
He promised to rally residents and block air services on the airstrip if KAA did not respond to the owner's grievances.
"It's a good project but we can not allow the KAA to frustrate people on their land," he added.
However, KAA's director of the airstrip, Wycliffe Kadoya, admitted the issue of compensation, claiming that her leaders were treating her from headquarters in Nairobi.
"I beg the protesters to calm down the game and give me time to talk to our leaders so that they receive the return in two weeks," Kadoya pleaded.
But landowners opposed his call and continued the peaceful protest for more than five hours.

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Kabunde airstripKAAKenya Airports AuthorityTyple delayed