Mr Boniface Njiru Mbaabu, the senior advocate who died in early August 2023.
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Six dead lawyers, 30 judges: Story behind land case that has been in court for 53 years
Equally revered and shunned in courts, lawyer Bonface Njiru’s name was synonymous with historical land injustice cases, and he was known to control the narrative inside courtrooms with intense, unyielding eye contact, locking eyes with opposing counsels and judges, leaving no doubt that his clients deserved justice.
Some of the prolific cases he handled included a 53-year-old land row involving Kiambu Dandora Farmers Company Limited (KDFCL) Vs Dandora Housing Schemes Limited (DHS) over an 818-acre piece of land, and the Mamukii Society Limited Vs Stanley & Sons Limited, National Land Commission, Chief Land Registrar, County Government of Makueni, Attorney General in a 5,048-acres land row.
Njiru, who collapsed in a Makueni court and was later pronounced dead early this month, was among a battery of lawyers conducting research during the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial of President William Ruto, former President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Kass FM radio presenter Joshua Arap Sang, who last week was appointed as Director, Public Communication in the office of the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service.
Njiru is the legal counsel who thought on his feet, challenging unexpected twists in the courtroom drama with razor-sharp wit and well-prepared counter-arguments.
In the Dandora case, part of the land houses Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Dandora Steel Structures, Kenya Co-operative Creameries Limited (KCC), government quarters in Kariobangi South, Dandora Railway terminus, Umoja II estate, Sosiani Estate, Nasra Garden Estate, and part of Umoja III estate.
In the case, Njiru and many other lawyers before him maintained that the land belonged to Kiambu Dandora Farmers Company Limited acquired by five trustees led by Waiharo Keingati, Kabiro Karanja, Reuben Kangara, Njuguna Kimani and Peter Kangara.
Njiru was at the helm of the case which commenced in 1970 – case No. 1348 of 1972 – defending KDFCL.
In July 2015, Njiru had written to the Attorney General and the Chief Land Registrar at the Ministry of Lands, in the interest of KDFCL, citing documented evidence which include a certified copy of the title deed released to the five by the original owners of the 818- acres parcel of land, Khan Nawaz Khan, Khan Abbas Khan, and Mehdi Khan.
The five sold the parcel at a consideration of Sh200,000 which they had collected from 225 members of DHS.
This land dispute has been pending in court for the last 53 years and like many other lawyers, Njiru, who was prosecuting the case for KDFCL, passed on without seeing its conclusion.
The case has been handled by over 30 judges, including Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mohammed Ibrahim.
Celebrated lawyer the late S.M Otieno was the first lawyer for DHS who compiled the list of 225 members who contributed the Sh200,000 to purchase the land from the Khan family.
The late lawyer Rueben Onyimo handled the case between 1972 and 1980 then he passed on.
DHS engaged the services of the current lawyer, C.N Kihara, who is conducting the case.
Former late Chief Justices and judges who handled the case include: the late CJ Zacchaeus Chesoni, the late CJ Evans Gicheru, the late justice Kasanga Mulwa, and the late Justice Frank Shields who in 1984 had directed the Kenyan government to compensate DHS Sh650,000 per each of the 818 acres and an interest rate of eight per cent for non-use since they purchased it in 1967.
This calculated to date will see the government of Kenya pay DHS about Sh40 billion.
The late judge Sanjeev Sachdeva vested back the land to DHS saying that the five trustees were agents of the Khan family and were paid a commission for receiving the Sh200,000 and therefore they had no legal status to own the land.
The former judge had directed a former registrar of the High Court to return Sh1 million deposited in court by the Ministry of Lands as compensation for the illegal acquisition of the 818-acres of land by the government in the 1970’s.
Also, a former managing director of DHS, the late Cornelius Peterson Waithaka who died aged 86, had, since when he was 25 years old, unsuccessfully wrestled with KDFCL for over 50 years to regain the land.
As a lawyer, Mr Njiru dived headfirst, pushed boundaries, unafraid to challenge the conventional wisdom and fearlessly advocated for the aggrieved with an unwavering determination to uncover the truth.
For instance, in January this year, Njiru had asked the High Court sitting in Wote, Makueni to be allowed to file and present electronic evidence, “since some of the witnesses he intends to call are over 100 years old and may die before they testify.”
He was appearing before the Land and Environment Court in Makueni, where 2,500 squatters are seeking to be resettled back to their ancestral land at Kiima Kiu in Kilome, Makueni County.
Njiru has been representing the squatters through the Mamukii Society who are seeking to be declared the legal owners of the 5,043 acres, initially occupied by their ancestors who “were forcefully removed from their land in the 1940s by Mr Robin Woodfall, a colonial settler.”
Njiru told Justice Teresia Murigi that the colonial settler loaded the inhabitants in lorries and train cargo cabins and dumped them at Makindu and Ulu where they live in shanties to date.
He was asking the court to declare them the legal owners of their ancestral land, issue them with title deeds and cancel the title in the possession of Mr Robin Robin Alan Stanley – a grandson of the settler – through Stanley & Sons Limited.
On Tuesday, August 8, 2023 Njiru had attended the hearing of a criminal case filed against the officials of Mamukii Society Limited – Pauline Mwikali Kaanzo, Joseph Mutuku Kalii and Joseph Mumina Mainga at the Kilungu Law Courts in Kaiti Constituency, Makueni.
He developed health challenges immediately he arrived at the law courts and was assisted by the officials of Mamukii Society and Mr Stanley into his car, and was driven by his son to Coptic Hospital in Nairobi where he succumbed.
The case will be mentioned on September 4, 2023 in Kilungu, while the High Court in Makueni will visit the land on September 26, 2023.
Njiru, who kept the oath of office in pursuit of justice on behalf of the aggrieved Kenyans, was buried on Friday at his farm in Rongai, Kajiado County.
