Written by Faith Mwende
In a landmark ruling, the Court of Appeal has held up a decision to seize over 100 residential properties that were illegally acquired in the prime Woodley/Joseph Kang’ethe Estate in Nairobi. The court declared that the titles to these properties, which are estimated to be worth around ksh.1 billion, were fraudulently obtained and the process behind their acquisition was deemed illegal and void.
This came after Judge Christine Ngala Mwalong, Musa Sijali, Tim Muli Ngai, the three presiding judges, and EACC appealed a lower court ruling that granted Moses Ng’ethe, the suit’s primary defendant, the use of the contested land. The controversy concerns the unscrupulous acquisition of the highly prized residential land belonging to the city-county of Nairobi. These properties have formed the subject of numerous suits for recovery by the EACC since 2006 and are now reported to be on one-acre plots each.
This ruling marked the end of what has now become one of the longest-standing legal struggles in this country – EACC vs Paul Moses Ng’ethe. This appeal has been pending since 2007 so it would not surprise anyone if the judges were clear in their assessment of this case and focused on the poverty-stricken areas of land owned by the authorities. Of course, the appeal court judges agreed that transfer mechanisms were severely defective, therefore, these cases were allowed to stand.
As part of the ruling, the Court of Appeal further directed the Registrar of Land to immediately cancel all illegal entries related to these properties and issued a permanent injunction barring the defendant and his agents from any further dealings with the land. The judges also orderd that Paul Moses Nge’the pay the cost of the appeal to the EACC.
With the ruling now final, the EACC will move forward with the enforcement of the Environment and Land Courts Orders. This includes demanding that Ngéthe and any current occupants, including tenants and agents, vacate the properties to facilitate their handover to the government
EACC officials have expressed confidence that this ruling will set a precedent for future land recovery cases, ensuring that land grabbing, particularly of public properties, is met with the full force of the law.
EACC officials have expressed confidence that this ruling will set a precedent for future land recovery cases, ensuring that land grabbing, particularly of public properties, is met with the full force of the law.
