Dispute over Nairobi property creates confusion over who is responsible for alleged vandalism

A bitter dispute over property in Nairobi’s Westlands on Saturday created confusion over who was responsible for the alleged vandalism and inadvertently exposed suspected criminal activities.

Investigations about what began as a call to newsrooms on Saturday morning about a vandalism of property allegedly belonging to Winfred Kaburu has lifted the lid on the complexities of settling property disputes with different narratives emerging.

Mrs Kaburu, a recipient of the Head of State Commendation in 2003, was James ole Kiyapi's running mate in the 2013 presidential election.

At about 8am yesterday morning an alert was sent to newsrooms that her house along Pilipili Drive had been vandalised by armed goons with an aim of evicting her from the property which she claims she had bought.

Broken doors, windows and household appliances were strewn on the floors of the four-bedroomed house and its servant quarters when the Nation arrived on the scene.

The property under dispute, sits on a quarter an acre with a market value of at least Sh100 million. The alleged vandalism comes two weeks after a family was forcefully evicted from their property and their house flattened within the same area. According to Mrs Kaburu about 50 men armed with machetes and guns descended on the house at about 6pm yesterday and roughed up those who were around before vandalising the property and stealing some items. Part of the roof was also destroyed.

FUTILE EFFORTS

She claims she had bought the house from Mr Kawal Jit Chadda in 2012 but efforts to get a title deed from him had been futile and instead the property has been sold to a second party, which she believes was the reason for the attack.

“A woman claiming to be the lawyer of Mr Chadda has been coming here claiming that this house is rented and they are selling it,” she said.

She added: “I have paid Sh14 million to date for this house and when I asked the owner to initiate the process of transfer, he told me that he had lost the title deed only for him to send goons to vandalise it in the middle of the night.”

However, according to the title deed which we have seen, the said property was acquired by Mr Chadda,74, in 1986 and is still under his possession.

Mrs Kaburu further said her daughter who lives in the house was beaten up and had been rushed to MP Shah Hospital while her night guard’s leg was broken. However, we could not independently establish this as she refused to give us the names of the victims.

SALE AGREEMENT

Additionally she declined to provide documents showing any payments she had made for the property or the sale agreement she signed with the owner but claimed that she was paying for Mr Chadda’s medication until their relationship broke when he allegedly declined to transfer the title to her.

 “He has been sickly and I started giving him Sh100,000 every month. Actually I paid for him Sh400,000 at MP Shah last month,” she claimed.

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who visited the scene condemned the act saying he would follow it up.

“Demolition of property has been outlawed through a presidential order so even if there is a dispute between the two parties, whatever took place here was wrong,” he said.

However, correspondence between the two parties with regard to the property show Mrs Kaburu as a tenant who appears to have refused to pay rent.

But there were other shocking revelations as the Nation came across wads of papers that resembled currency notes. There was also the unexplained presence of women who could not express themselves in Kiswahili.

This is despite the tenancy agreement signed in 2012 which outlaws subletting of the property.

DELETE PHOTOGRAPHS

When the Nation alerted the three officers who were at the scene about the pieces of paper that appeared to be similar to those used to print fake currency notes, they demanded that we delete photographs and videos we had taken. One of the clips showed the police talking to Ms Kaburu about the pieces of paper. By Saturday evening, there were no indications that the police had taken action to investigate the alleged presence of fake currency.

Kilimani OCPD Peter Katam also said the owner of the house had been arrested, something our police sources disputed.

That aside, on October 21, Wamaitha Waweru and Companty Advocates acting on behalf of Mr Chadda wrote a demand letter to Mrs Kaburu asking for Sh1.5 million which were arrears for unpaid rent warning they would institute legal proceedings if she did not pay.

“Our client informs us that you have not paid rent for the last 15 months as per the agreement and you have been taking advantage of Mr Chadda’s sickness by not paying as you should,” they said.

SEVERAL OCCASIONS

In the demand letter they said that the landlord had tried to reach Mrs Kaburu on several occasions.

“Take notice that if the afforested sum of Sh1,500,000 (excluding utility bills) is not paid in full within 14 days for the date hereof, our instructions are to levy distress and further institute legal proceeding against yourself for the recovery of the sum,” they said.

She did not pay and Mr Chadda went to court. On December 7, Judge W Mburu of the Milimani commercial court gave approval for the landlord to auction property belonging to Mrs Kaburu so as to recover the outstanding rent arrears.

“That the officer commanding Muthangari police station or administration police in that jurisdiction to supervise the exercise for the purpose of maintaining law and order during the exercise,” he ordered.

Inverbass Auctioneers then descended on the property and carted away some goods on December 14.

They took household items which according to the attached document in possession of the Nation were worth Sh52,550.