Murang'a firm raises alarm over fake land deals

A Murang'a-based land buying company has raised the alarm over the rise of fraudulent land deals in the county.

Samuru-Gituto Cooperative Society has cautioned the public that they risk losing their hard earned money after fraudsters masquerading as its officials started selling share certificates to unsuspecting Kenyans for between Sh50,000 and  Sh150,000.

CONSULT WIDELY

According to the company's chairperson George Kuria, unscrupulous people have been conning unsuspecting Kenyans out of their money. The cooperative owns prime land located opposite Thika Greens along Thika road.

“We want to invite the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to launch probe and apprehend the suspects who have been conning innocent Kenyans," he said.

 “We are not selling the share certificates as the 310 acres of land has genuine shareholders. I urge people to consult widely and visit our offices in Kenol to get more details about the land,” Kuria added

He asked those who have bought the fake shares to record statements with the DCI.

Mr Kuria, who was accompanied by Vice-Chairperson Phillip Wanyoike, Honorary Secretary John Njuguna and Treasurer Evans Kagwi, was speaking when they donated foodstuff to the elderly who have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

310 ACRES

The team was elected last year after 15 years of litigations in courts. The 310 acres of land had been sold without the consent of the members in what the court of appeal described as greed and injustice to poor Kenyans who sacrificed for the sake of their future generation.

In a judgment delivered by court of appeal judges PN Waki, K. Musinga and J. Otieno Odek, the court issued reservatory and conservatory orders restraining the respondents from entering in any dealings including the sub-division and sale of the 301 acres in the strength of orders issued by the lower courts.

The firm, which has over 5,000 members, started buying the shares of the land in 1965 at Sh20. The group had a total of 1,700 acres but a big chunk of it was sold.

The co-operative bought the land that was under coffee plantation with the hope of making money through dividends derived from the sale of coffee production.

But dwindled coffee prices and mismanagement caused the group to incur losses and in the mid 2000, it was unable to service bank loans.