Massive Investment Facing Demolition as Court Declares They Invested in Land Acquired llegally

Investors on several disputed parcels of land are on the brink of losing their lifetime investments following court decisions that the land they invested in was acquired illegally.

Among the families are those who invested and constructed palatial homes in Ngata on a 10-acre land.

In July 2023, the Environment and Lands Court ordered families occupying the ten-acre land to vacate within three months. The court then ruled that the 11 families were conned into buying the parcel of land, illegally acquired from a widow and subdivided into plots.

Justice Mwangi Njoroge said the families were deceived as the person who sold them the plots had nothing to sell to them and that they ought to seek an appropriate remedy against him and his collaborators in the mischief.

The judge then ordered that they be evicted from the land. Their troubles started in December 2013, when Selina Selim filed a suit claiming she had been dispossessed of her 10-acre land. The land she said formed part of her late husband’s (Kimutai arap Selim) estate.

She had sued Zephaniah Kurgat, Allan Oguta, Pius Okelo Odero, Sarah Masolo, Andrew, Hezron Magak Obuya, Samuel Osee, Ezekiel Cheboi, Richard Koskey, and Kinaro Ndubi t/a Ekegoro Stationery Supplies, among others, in the case.

Kinaro, who was at the center of the case, claimed to have acquired the land from Selim’s late husband and sold it to third parties. Selim denied the claims through lawyer Kipkoech Ng’etich.

Kinaro, in his response, said he knew all the individuals named in the case, adding that they were among 50 others. He denied trespassing on the land and said Selim’s husband sold it to her.

Kimutai wanted to sell the entire 83 acres

He said his initial plan was to purchase two acres for Sh700,000 an acre, but Kimutai wanted to sell the entire 83 acres. He said he paid for the two-acre land, then Kimutai gave him another ten acres to subdivide and get buyers. It was then that he subdivided the land into plots, sold it, and transferred it to the buyers.

Kinaro, while being cross-examined, said he did not have any agreement for the ten-acre land.

Among those who testified in court was Masolo, who said she did not search but knew the person who sold her the land.

Lawyer Kipkoech told the court that even if the defendants have developed the suit property, they are trespassers for lack of sale agreement and consent.

The judge said, having looked at the pleadings and the evidence in the case, there was no evidence that the deceased ever entered into any agreement with Kinaro over the sale of LR No. Njoro/Ngata Block 2/2733.

Judge Njoroge said it was clear there was no sale agreement between the deceased and Kinaro. He said Kinaro rode on a wave of previous agreements to purport and hoodwink everyone that he had purchased the suit land from the deceased, while he had not.

“Kinaro not only trespassed upon the suit land but also caused other third parties to follow suit. A curious thing here, is that none of the other defendants established that they purchased their plots out of LR Number Njoro/Ngata Block2/2733,” stated Judge Njoroge.

The 11, however, moved to the Court of Appeal, where they obtained orders barring their eviction pending hearing and determination of their case.

Prison Land

In almost a similar case, the Environment and Lands Court, in a ruling delivered last week, dismissed a case by 17 High Ridge residents in Nakuru who had sued the Commissioner of Prisons.

Judge Anthony Ombwayo said the 17 residents had not proved their case, and the parcels of land they occupied fell within the prison land.

The 17 in the case claimed prison warders from Nakuru GK Prison went into various parcels of land they occupied and marked commercial and residential buildings with the letter X with the initials KPS, claiming that the land formed part of Nakuru GK Prison land.

They told the court that the land had never been part of prison land, adding that they acquired the land through purchase and have been in occupation for over two decades.

They said they had developments running into hundreds of millions of shillings.

The Commissioner General of Kenya Prisons opposed the application and claimed the residents acquired the land through fraudulent means.

Mary Gatakaa, a surveyor with the Kenya Prisons Service, said the land belongs to Nakuru Prison. She said the land was gazetted in 1961 through notice No. 361 of 1961 as plot number LR 452/1/4, measuring 628 acres.

Judge Ombwayo said the Commissioner of Lands had a duty to protect land alienated from the government and occupied by government departments such as prisons, the police, public works, and schools.

Ombwaya said the Commissioner of Lands had no powers to alienate the land unless it was for religious, school, or other purposes. He said it was unprocedural for the Commissioner of Lands to alienate land where there was a prison building.

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