Ben Gethi family in Sh150 million land battle spanning generations

In his heyday, Ben Gethi was Kenya’s most powerful policeman, first as the commandant of the General Service Unit (GSU), and later as commissioner of police. Although, many people thought he was “untouchable” — even in death — a long-running Sh150 million land dispute involving him and two peasants is, thanks to inordinate delays, now going to be fought out in courts by their sons.

COLONIAL FARMER

Besides, an adverse possession over a portion of the land has been filed in court, further complicating matters.

With the original plaintiffs dead, the ownership tussle for a 300-acre ranch in Nyandarua County offers insights into land feuds in Kenya and how unsettled land issues can be passed down generations.

What is not contested is that the land was initially registered in the name of Fabian Harry Wallis, a colonial farmer, in 1902.

What Wallis did after that is to be determined by the  court, and has thrown Gethi’s family into the spotlight.

The Gethi family says he was gifted the land, as do two former workers of Wallis — Ndurere Muhunyu and Ithinyai M’narangui, who have since died.

They claimed that the White settler left them the  expansive land, whose ownership was transferred to them on November 7, 1964.

And now, their sons, plaintiffs in the new case, have filed papers in the Nyahururu Environment and Land Court, saying, their parents became the owners of the land vide a conveyance dated October 23, 1964. The land is registered as LR 7381 (LR 6406) Laikipia.

But the land is currently registered under Murua Limited — a company whose directors are Ms Angela Wairimu Gethi, the former police chief’s widow, and Mr Peter Nderitu Gethi. The documents in court indicate that the property was transferred from Wallis to Meja Gethi in 1971, as a ‘gift’.

TWO PEASANTS

The battle for ownership of the land has remained unsettled for 48 years and when Gethi died in June, 1994, he left his widow, Ms Wairimu, to continue battle with the the two plaintiffs.

But the two also died sometime in 2009, aged over 103 years, and their sons took up the battle to get what they believe rightfully belongs to their fathers.

The case was initially been taken to the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Land ministry, but they both failed to resolve it.

The parties accuse each other of trespass and fraudulently acquiring the ownership documents, but with each side believing they have genuine papers for the land in Murichu, Ndaragwa Constituency, the case provides an example of the confusion at the Land registries.

The case was filed by Mr Kimen ere Waititu, Mr David Gitonga, Mr Ngotho Ndurere and Mr Muthami Ndurere on behalf of their parents against Gethi’s widow, Ms Wairimu and her company, Murua Limited.

Through lawyer Wachira Wamahiu, the plaintiffs indicate that the said conveyance of the land was entered in the register of lands by the Chief Lands Registrar.

“Since taking occupation and ownership, the deceased proprietors haven’t at any time surrendered the ownership,” Mr  Wamahiu says.

The 1971 transfer, which the plaintiffs say happened in unclear circumstances, marked the beginning of the legal tussle dispute. It led to frequent but unsuccessful attempts to evict the families of the two peasants by State security agencies.

TRANSFER ILLEGAL

Gethi was serving as the first commandant of the GSU at the time. He later served as the second post-independence police commissioner from 1978 to 1982 after Mr Bernard Hinga.

In their initial letter to the NLC, the plaintiffs accused Gethi of using “his position and government forces… to evict our parents from the land without a court order and also managed to abuse the office of Commissioner of Lands for irregular registration.”

The plaintiffs indicate that the office of the Commissioner of Lands denied them access to information on records relating to the land, from 1971 until 2014, when they were given the search copy.

Documents in court indicate that the property was later transferred to Ms Wairimu through transmission as the administrator of Gethi’s estate, and later to Murua Limited. The plaintiffs consider the transfers to Gethi fraudulent and illegal.

“The deceased joint owners occupied the land with their families and enjoyed quiet, peaceful and exclusive use until soon after 1971, when agents of Benjamin Gethi and policemen descended upon the land and forcefully and violently evicted the families of the deceased from their homes, thereby effectively rendering them squatters on the land,” lawyer Wamahiu says.

He adds that the Gethi family and the plaintiffs now occupy different parts of the land.

But Murua Limited director Peter Nderitu Gethi says they are the legal owners of the property, and wants the squatters evicted. He avers that 10 members of the two families invaded the land and started erecting semi-permanent structures. Police officers from Ndaragwa and Nyahururu police stations arrested them last year and charged them with malicious damage to property.

The criminal cases are pending before a Nyahururu court.

“They do not claim any right over the property but are being mischievous and provocative and are bent on interfering with the company’s quiet enjoyment of the property,” Nderitu Gethi says.

LAND CARETAKER

He has attached a copy of a letter dated August 15, 2018, from the Chief Land Registrar, C.K. Ngetich, addressed to Kamau Kuria & Company Advocates (for the squatters) indicating that Murua Limited has a genuine title deed for the land. The title deed, according to the Chief Registrar was registered on July 14, 2010.

Attempts by the Nyandarua County Land Management Board to resolve the dispute failed, and in a report dated October 22, 2015, it referred the matter to court.

The case will be mentioned on May 10 to confirm if both parties have filed their submissions.

Wairimu’s brother-in-law Charles Wahome Gethi had also lodged a different suit in  the High Court seeking a share of the land on grounds of adverse possession. He wants to be declared owner of a six-acre portion of the ranch that he occupied for over 12 years.

The court heard that Gethi took his brother, Wahome, to the land as  a caretaker in 1971. The land was  used mainly for dairy farming and Wahome occupied the main house and was allowed to cultivate crops and keep cattle on the farm.

He settled with his family on the land in or about 1990 but after Gethi died, Wairimu obtained the grant of probate in 1999 and asked him to move out. He vacated the main house in 1999, but still occupied the plot on the “Pepsi side”.

ADVERSE POSITION

He argued that his brother allowed him to use the six acres as a tenant at will in 1970, and that he had occupied it continuously. 

He said he had fenced off the portion, terraced it, built four houses and cattle sheds and planted fruit trees. Wairimu’s claim to the portion was barred by the Limitation of Actions Act, he said.

Wairimu successfully obtained a mandatory injunction compelling Wahome to vacate the land, and an order barring him from entering it.

In allowing Wairimu’s case, Justice Kalpana Rawal on October 25, 2007 found that Wahome had not proved that he was in adverse possession of the portion of the six acres for 12 years prior to the suit.

The court found Wahome entered the plot as a tenant with his brother’s consent, which tenancy ended with Ben’s death in 1994.