Two orphans sue Rai Cement, trustee over sale of their Sh30m ancestral land

Two orphans want a cement company to return their 11.2 acres of land worth Sh30 million; where their mother is buried.

Alphonse Kipkorir Too and Hillary Kipkoech want Rai Cement Company, which they say legally owns the land, to return it within seven days. 

The orphans say Rai Cement Limited was sold the property by their uncle Joseph Kiptietuk Mutai; who held it on their behalf as a trustee in 2014 when they were minors. 

In the suit served on Rai Cement Limited in Kericho County, the orphans through lawyer Geoffrey Langat are also seeking an order for the company to return to them the title deeds to the suit property along the Kisumu-Kericho highway. 

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The duo are also seeking compensation of Sh10,080,000 from the Rai for illegally occupying the land.

The amount is compensation for the nine years they have been illegally occupying the land at a market rate commercial lease of Sh100,000 per acre.

" That if we do not receive the said amount, title documents and vacate the said land within seven days, we will proceed to issue statutory eviction notices and institute both criminal and civil proceedings against you (Rai Cement Limited) with risks to yourselves as costs and consequences incidental thereto," the two orphans said in the demand letter.

The orphans say the property is of great sentimental value to them as it is their matrimonial home and the graves of their parents, including their late mother Jane Chelimo Mutai, are buried there.

Mr Kipkorir and Mr Kipkoech were declared heirs to their late father's estate.

In his ruling delivered in May 2014, Judge Sergon awarded the estate to Joseph Kiptietuk Mutai as an administrator and trustee to hold it until the heirs come of age. In 2014, Kipkoech was 16 years old and Kipkorir was 17.

Following the High Court order, Mr Mutai transfered the 11.2 acres to one Sarbit Signh Rai, a director and shareholder of Rai Cement Limited.

Registered owner

Sarbit Signh Rai subsequently transferred the land, known as Kericho/ Ngomwet/384, to the cement company, the current registered owner of the property.

" The said trustee (Mutai) together with Sarbit Signh Rai in collusion with the land registrar Kerich Land Registry fraudulently transferred the said property without regard to the interest of the minors," says lawyer Langat of Fatah and Company Advocates.

Mr Langat says the orphans, now of age, conducted searches on the property, which has since been subdivided in accordance with the mutation and survey maps.

To their utter surprise, the two orphans discovered that Rai Cement Limited had taken possession, demolished their house and carried out extensive development, including the construction of a multi-billion dollar cement factor on their land.

According to the original title documents, the two orphans say that their father's land was in excess of 50 acres but Justice Sergon vested 11.2 acres to Mutai to hold in their trust.

The entire 50-acre estate has since been subdivided and sold to various investors.

Rai Cement Limited took possession of the 11.2 acres on July 28, 2015 and a title deed was issued by the Kericho County Land Registrar on the same day.

The matter is being investigated by the Kericho District Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) for possible criminal culpability.

In response to the orphans, Rai Cement has stated that it is the legal owner of the land in dispute.