State struggles to explain questionable Sh100m compensation for land it owned

Solicitor-General Ken Ogeto now wants Parliament to give him more time to establish why the State Law Office failed to appeal against a court judgment that compelled the government to pay Sh100 million in compensation for land it claims to own.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Tuesday, Mr Ogeto said he needs to find out if there were lapses in how the matter was litigated.

The government has paid Sh133 million to general building contractor Hirji Seyani, who claims to own a 0.7-acre disputed land (LR No. 2093217) in Kileleshwa, Nairobi. About Sh23 million is outstanding.

The money includes compensation for the land and interest accrued since the judgment was issued in 2015.

Flagged by Auditor-General

But the payment was flagged by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in her report for the accounts of the State Department for Housing and Urban Development for the 2018/19 financial year.

The report, now before PAC, which is chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, mentions adversely the State Law Office and the Department of Justice.

The committee wants to establish why the court judgment was not appealed despite instructions in November 2016 from the Housing and Urban Development principal secretary at the time, Aidah Munano.

“This is the first time I’m being confronted with this matter. The matter is more serious than I thought,” Mr Ogeto told the watchdog committee.

The ministry’s instructions on the appeal were anchored on the fact that the land was alienated for government housing and a government house (HG 271) developed in 1948.

Government employees “have continuously occupied the house and paid rent to the government” until 2008, when the house was demolished.

Not registered owner

The ministry further noted that Mr Seyani was not the legally registered owner and that any documents of title that he may hold are not genuine and were not regularly obtained.

But on March 13, 2015, Justice Mutungi determined that Mr Seyani was the rightful owner of the property and ordered that he be compensated Sh100 million with interest from the date of judgment.

At the time of the judgment, Prof Githu Muigai was the Attorney-General with Mr Njee Muturi as Solicitor-General.

Mr Seyani, who appeared before PAC last week, said that he bought the land from a Mr Peter Kipchirchir Magut in 1999 for Sh5 million.

This is despite documents submitted to the committee indicating that the land had a government house (HG 271) and was occupied by Winston Orege, a civil servant, who was paying rent to the government.

The property would be transferred to Mr Seyani and the transfer registered in the registry by the registrar of titles on December 13, 2000.

Mr Seyani went on to demolish the house in readiness to develop the plot.

But the ministry maintained that the land was government-owned and in 2008 the government built residential houses on it and sold them to civil servants.

The civil servants are occupying the houses. However, Mr Seyani filed for compensation claims.

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