Why High Court judge disqualified himself from Sirikwa squatters case
Justice Reuben Nyakundi, the Eldoret High Court Presiding Judge during a court session on November 02, 2022.
What you need to know:
- The squatters have been fighting with the family of former Kanu politician — the late Mark Too — over ownership of 25,000 acres of prime land in Eldoret
- Justice Nyakundi said he will not allow 'his illustrious career of 35 years to be sullied by the case
- His decision came after a law firm involved in the case wrote to him saying their rivals had expressed reservations about his conduct in handling the case
- The judge said he has no interest in the case, and he will fight to his last breath to protect his name
The presiding judge of the Eldoret High Court, Justice Reuben Nyakundi, has disqualified himself from hearing a leadership dispute involving rival groups of Sirikwa squatters.
The squatters have been fighting with the family of former Kanu politician — the late Mark Too — over ownership of 25,000 acres of prime land in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, and won the case at the Court of Appeal in November last year.
However, the Too family has appealed to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal's decision to award them only 67 acres of the 25,000 disputed acres, and the verdict will be delivered in Nairobi this Friday.
But in Eldoret on Tuesday, Justice Nyakundi said he would not continue hearing the squatters' leadership case because his name was being maligned.
"I cannot allow my illustrious career of 35 years to be sullied by this case. Let it be known that I don't have any interest in this case. Unfortunately, my name is being dragged and I cannot allow it. I will use my last breath to protect my name," Justice Nyakundi declared.
"There are 79 other judges in Kenya and you are free to decide which court will hear your case and serve justice. If anyone has a problem with me, let them go to the relevant authorities and record a statement instead of maligning my name outside," he said.
He then ordered the case to be heard by another High Court judge in Eldoret, and excused himself.
Rivals
His decision came after a law firm involved in the case wrote to him saying their rivals had expressed reservations about his conduct in handling the case.
The squatters' leadership tussle began in 2017 after they won a landmark property ruling against Mr Too's family, bogging down the process with endless cases.
According to the squatters' lawyer, Mr William Arusei, the leadership wrangles case has become a circus, with one lawsuit after another. One splinter group has used different law firms to file multiple lawsuits on the same issue.
"The leadership wrangles among the squatters arose after they won ownership of the land, and we believe this is a total abuse of the court process," said Mr Arusei.
In 2019, the splinter group filed a miscellaneous application seeking substantive orders as the true leaders of the Sirikwa squatters, while another group filed a preliminary objection.
"The splinter group then withdrew the miscellaneous application and filed another one — Case 18 of 2020 and then another one — Case 2 of 2023. The splinter group led by David Kiptanui Yego even used a forged registration certificate to show that they were genuine squatters but were dismissed after it was discovered that the document was forged and they were subsequently charged and convicted for forgery," he said.
"We will now have a fresh start before a new judge and we will ask the court to put an end to this matter because the Sirikwa squatters led by Benjamin Rono have already been declared genuine after the Uasin Gishu social services director testified," he said.
Mr Arusei said the matter should be heard in a higher court and not the High Court.
