A land rights activist has been sentenced to six (6) months in jail or pay a fine of Kshs.50,000. He was charged with “threatening to kill” a security guard of a Salt Mining Company.

Mr. Joel Ogada was found guilty and sentenced at the Chief Magistrate Court in Malindi CR case file number 177 of 2016 on Thursday 2 December 2021.

The magistrate, Hon. Ivy Wasike, ruled that Ogada will serve six months behind bars despite the spirited defense against the guilt verdict by Mr Ogada and his lawyer who explained that Ogada was land rights activist who was persecuted because of his campaign against the forceful encroachment of community land by a salt mining company which had sustained a campaign of criminalization of activists through the justice system.

“This is a matter of concern to all environmentalists and land rights activists who express dissent over illegal acquisition of their property. It is an outrage as this means that any activist who dares stand against powerful corporations will be imprisoned,” said Kamau Ngugi, Executive Director of the Defenders Coalition.

Mr Ogada who has a farm next to the company has been spearheading a campaign against corporate land grabbing in Kilifi County for which he has been under extreme pressure from the company to vacate his land.

He described to the court that the charges were trumped up as part of the campaign to criminalize his land right activism and for standing up against grabbing of his land and that of other community members by business entities.

The land rights activist was arrested from his home in Kinagoni Village at around 6 PM on 14 March 2016 by security officers from a local police station who were accompanied by security guards of Kurawa Salt Mining Company. One of the guards made a complaint at Marereni Police Station alleging that Mr. Ogada threatened to kill him.

Mr. Ogada pleaded not guilty  and explained to the court how the company had used all manner of tactics to harass, intimidate and persecute him because of not acceding to the company’s spirited campaign to expand its land territory.

He stated that he had not threatened anyone and that charge of threatening to kill Mr. Laban Simiyo Wanjala, a security guard of Kurawa Salt Company, contrary to section 233, Subsection 1 of the Penal Code was a fabrication.

Restraining Order obtained in 2004
In 2004, Mr Ogada who has been involved in a long standing land dispute with the salt company obtained court orders restraining Kurawa Salt Mining Company from acquiring his land and that of his community members.

Despite the orders, the company did  not cease its attempts to acquire land leading to criminalization campaign by the salt company against Mr. Ogada

Family stigmatized and alienated

Joel Ogada’s frequent arrests and imprisonment adversely affected his family who became the targets of threats when he was imprisoned in 2013.

It is worth noting that the threats and intimidation from the salt farm and authorities did not cease at Ogada.  In a separate incident and while in prison, Mr, Ogada’s wife was arrested, along with 6 others, and charged with arson and destruction of property at the Kurawa salt farm.

The wife and six others were released and the case is still ongoing in court.
In another ploy to ensure that the family and friends of Joel Ogada felt intimidated and disappeared from the disputed land, his brother, David Ogada, who Joel had asked to watch over his property while he was in prison, was arrested in November 2014 and charged with trespass and being in possession of bhang (marijuana), allegations he denied.
The perception among the community and his family is that Joel is being persecuted by the local administration and the Kurawa salt farm in order to intimidate him and force him to vacate the disputed land and abandon his human rights work

About Mr. Joel Ogada
He is a member of the Kubuka Farmers Association, Joel Ogada has been on the frontline of advocating for land and environmental rights in his Coastal community for years. Joel advocates against the human rights violations committed by the neighbouring salt companies in Marereni through their expansion into the surrounding indigenous community’s ancestral lands. Joel Ogada, a resident of Kanagoni, the disputed piece of land that neighbors the Kurawa salt farm, has faced numerous threats due to his activism and efforts to resist evictions by the Kurawa Salt Company.