'We don't want compensation!': Plight of 163,000 facing displacement by GDC

“Hatutoki!”

She chants alongside her neighbors, whose homes and livelihoods they say are threatened by the “big dogs” seeking to tap steam from the geothermal project.

Lydia Komen has lived in Tulwopmoi, Ol Rongai location, for about 36 years. She says she settled here when she married and has since raised four children on land handed down through generations.

“This land has been my home all that time, and neither my children nor my grandchildren know any other,” she says. “We hope to pass it on the same way it was given to us.”

For most of those years, the family lived in peace, even as drilling continued in the caldera nearby.

Lydia cannot say exactly how far the caldera is from her house, but she recalls the constant rumble.

“The drilling is loud. We have learned to live with it,” she explains. “What bothers us more is the ‘rotten‑egg’ smell that fills the air whenever they open a well. Sometimes the release even makes a loud sound and everything comes and goes, but the drilling never stops.”

Recently local leaders delivered troubling news that the residents may soon be displaced so the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) can begin phase two of its project.

Eleven villages in Rongai sub‑county, including Lydia’s in Menengai West ward and five in Subukia’s Kabazi ward would be affected.

“GDC resumed excavation, saying it’s part of their plan to bring electricity. While we support development, the company now wants to displace over 163,000 people to expand their operations, promising compensation. Where will we go?” she asks.

Many residents say they were never consulted or informed about what Phase Two would mean for their lives. She notes that nobody keeps spare land ready for sudden relocation.

“No one plans to move after settling. Women are developing high blood pressure, young people are anxious, and children struggle in school because they hear their parents might be forced far away. They keep asking where we will go. We do not want compensation. Money cannot repay the years of work we have invested here. If they evict us, we will stay,” she says firmly.

Lydia also links ongoing excavation to health complaints, including a strange flu among children, fevers, stomach aches, and a persistent foul odor.

“We have buried our relatives on this land,” she adds. “If we must leave, what happens to their graves? Our culture forbids exhuming the dead. We need the government to protect us so we can live here in peace.”

According to the community spokesperson Timothy Ng’etich, he says this is not the first time an energy company has tried to dig on their land.

“A while back, during a public participation forum, NEMA had said that before issuing a geothermal exploration license, they would return for a fact-finding mission. They never showed up. We later learned that they had already issued the license, and it wasn’t even displayed on the NEMA website. At that point, we took the company to court and won the case,” he says.

Now, Ng’etich says, GDC and KENGEN want to implement phase two of their project on their land, and they won’t allow it.

“If you try to force your way into this place, we will deal with you, and we will do it legally,” he warns, adding that everyone, from adults to children, is ready to stand up for their cause. “This is our heritage, and we are not going anywhere.”

Mtaa Wangu could not reach GDC for a comment as calls and texts to the CEO went unanswered.