Nakuru families to lose Sh300 million luxury homes after court ruling
The families, who bought portions of prime land from a 10-acre block in the posh Ngata area on the outskirts of Nakuru City, had built permanent houses worth at least Sh300 million.
At least 10 families face eviction from their homes after a court found they were duped into buying land that was not for sale.
The families, who bought portions of prime land from a 10-acre block in the posh Ngata area on the outskirts of Nakuru City, had built permanent houses worth at least Sh300 million.
Now, in a ruling, Environment and Lands Court Judge Mwangi Njoroge has declared the families trespassers and ordered them to "vacate the land with their property".
The order followed a case brought by a widow, Selina Chepkoech Selim, who sued the homeowners for allegedly encroaching on land that belonged to her late husband, Kimutai Selim.
The homeowners are Ezekiel Cheboi, Robert, Zephaniah Kurgat, Allan Oguta, Pius Okello Odero, Sarah Masolo, Andrew, Hezron Magak Obuya, Samuel Osee, Richard Koskey and Kinaro Ndubi.
Mr Ndubi, through his company Ekegoro Stationery Supplies, sold the land to the individuals after claiming to have acquired it from Kimutai, who died on November 21 2011.
In her case filed in 2013 through Gordon Ogolla, Kipkoech and Company Advocates, Ms Chepkoech accused Mr Ndubi of encroaching on the land after her husband's death and subdividing it before selling it to third parties.
According to lawyer Kipkoech, Mr Ndubi was involved in a land transaction with the late Kimutai for another piece of land, but not the one in dispute.
The court heard that Kimutai had engaged Mr Ndubi to help him sell some of his land. However, at the time of his death, he had neither sold nor agreed to sell the disputed 10 acres.
His wife, who had been appointed to administer his estate, had not sold the land to Mr Ndubi either.
Not issued title deeds
She only saw strangers entering the land and fencing it off after claiming to have bought it, which prompted her to go to court.
It later emerged that Mr Ndubi had paid huge sums of money to some of Kimutai's children and relatives who were not listed as administrators of the estate.
The buyers of the land were also not issued title deeds for the land, although they proceeded to develop it.
The widow's efforts to get the families to vacate the plots had been unsuccessful.
The court found that the purported agreement for the sale of the land, dated 15 March 2010, was not genuine as Kimutai's purported signature differed from the signature on other documents.
The court ruled that the families were free to take legal action against Mr Ndubi for deceiving them into buying the land.
“It is not without much sympathy for the rest of the defendants that this court informs them that they were deceived by Mr Ndubi who had nothing to sell to them out of the land and they ought to therefore seek appropriate remedy against him and his collaborators in the mischief,” ruled Justice Njoroge.
He added that the families should be immediately evicted from the land within 90 days.
He also ordered Mr Ndubi to pay the widow Sh2 million in damages.
"All the respondents, members of their families, their agents, servants and employees shall remove themselves and any structures erected by them from the suit within 90 days from the date of this order and vacate the land to the plaintiff, failing which they shall be forcibly evicted," Justice Njoroge ordered.
