Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome was caught up in a dispute over the ownership of an 18- acre parcel in the Gigiri neighbourhood of Nairobi.
She was temporarily detained by goons laying claim to the land whose ownership has been contested since 2009.
The CS and a host of local leaders, police officers and a battery of journalists were accosted by goons who were armed with crude weapons including machetes, rungus, bows and arrows.
CS Wahome had just accessed the land that is situated along the Lower Kabete road when the goons, some of whom she found at the scene, locked the gates using a padlock before taking off with the keys.
As she and her entourage was locked inside, the land owner Mr Ashok Rupshi Shah and his lawyer Suleiman Bashir were on the other side of the gate, denied entry into the parcel of land.
“I am not normally easily threatened or scared. I’m a courageous person but I don’t like the fact that goons… lock a gate that we accessed to come here,” CS Wahome said.
“That tells you that the owner will not be able to access this place. His fears are valid and indeed he has persistently pestered me to come and help him take over his land.”
At the heart of the dispute is a contested ownership that has resulted in winding court cases.
While Mr Ashok and Mr Hitenkumar jointly claim ownership of the land which they say they purchased in 2007, the ownership was challenged when the late businessman Jacob Juma emerged with documents claiming ownership of the same parcel of land.
The Environment and Lands Court in Nairobi in 2022 with a ruling in favour of Mr Ashok and Mr Hitenkumar, ending the tussle. Then a former Moi-era, powerful PC Nathan Davis Chelogoi emerged laying claim to the same land.
It is alleged that the goons who have been occupying the land are under the instructions of Mr Chelogoi.
Mr Chelogoi has since been charged at the Magistrate’s court for seven counts including conspiracy to defraud, forcible detainer, forgery, uttering a forged document and obtaining/ procuring registration of land by false pretense.
Mr Chelogoi is charged alongside Andrew Aseri Kirungu, an officer at the lands registry. Mr Kirungu has never taken plea with the court being told that he has been unwell. But CS Wahome believes he could be feigning illness.
“Now I understand the challenge that he (Mr Ashok) has been facing,” CS Wahome said of the experience.
“We are not going to tolerate impunity. Whatever is happening here is pure impunity. I am detained by the same goons that have taken over this land from somebody who has been charged.” She added.
“I fought for 13 years against Jacob Juma and legitimately I have been awarded the judgement and after that another person came with fraudulent title and he is claiming that it is his property, and he was nowhere before until 2022 when I received the judgment,” said Mr Ashok of the winding legal battle.
Following the ordeal, CS Wahome further ordered police officers to conduct an operation and apprehend all those who have been occupying the land and especially the person who locked the gate and vanished with the keys leading to her detention.
She gave the police 24 hours to report back on the progress.
“We look forward to the implementation of the directive that has been made by the CS in terms of ensuring that within 24 hours he peacefully takes over his land” Mr Ashok’s lawyer Suleiman Bashir said.
