Uhuru’s kin take land row to House
Catherine Muigai and her brother Kungu Muigai during the first anniversary of the Westgate terror attack at Karura Forest on September 21, 2014. Mr Muigai and Mr Ngengi Muigai have asked the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee to establish why KCB sold Muiri Coffee Estate Limited. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- They also want action taken against the bank if it is found to have sold and transferred the farm to Bidii Kenya Limited without due process.
- The case has gone through the courts, with the Court of Appeal in June 2014 stopping Mr Kungu from taking it up to the Supreme Court.
Two cousins of President Uhuru Kenyatta have taken their battle with the Kenya Commercial Bank over a 443-acre farm to the National Assembly.
Mr Kungu Muigai and Mr Ngengi Muigai have asked the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee to establish why the bank sold Muiri Coffee Estate Limited, whose worth is reported to be Sh700 million, without the owner’s consent.
They also want action taken against the bank if it is found to have sold and transferred the farm to Bidii Kenya Limited without due process.
The case has gone through the courts, with the Court of Appeal in June 2014 stopping Mr Kungu from taking it up to the Supreme Court.
They petitioned the National Assembly through Gatanga MP Humphrey Njuguna, who asked the Finance Committee to establish whether it was fair for the bank to dispose of the piece of land.
“This is one of the many cases where banks act and leave untold suffering,” Mr Njuguna told the committee chaired by Ainamoi MP Benjamin Lang’ata.
The estate is located in Juja, Kiambu, and its owners used it as a guarantor for Benjoh Amalgamated Limited to the tune of Sh11.5 million.
Benjoh had taken a loan of Sh9 million from KCB in 1989. In 1994, said the petitioners, the bank was paid Sh6 million by the late James Muigai, leaving a balance of Sh3.4 million.
In July 1995, Mr Muigai’s widow, Mrs Ngina Muigai, asked about the outstanding balance.
She would be told in March 1996 that the bank was owed Sh44.3 million. Mr Kung’u said the amount increased because money was stolen from the bank using forged letters.
The bank would in 2002 advertise Benjoh’s properties for sale by auction and when the firm went to court and demanded that the bank produces statements of accounts, it turned to Muiri Estate.
The estate would eventually be sold to Bidii Kenya Limited for Sh70 million in 2007.
Mr Kungu and Mr Ngengi, directors of Benjoh Amalgamated and Muiri Coffee Estate Limited, said the coffee farm was worth over Sh70 million.
Mr Lang’at said the committee would require a summary of the cases and the judgements to come up with a way forward on the matter.
