Woman, 65, fights land cartels over Sh100m property

Ms Elizabeth Wambui, 65, knows too well what land cartels are capable of. However, as she strolls slowly in her compound at Thika’s Section 9 aided by her granddaughter who is barely seven years old, she vows to protect her Sh100 million plot in Thika.

Ms Wambui is diabetic and suffers from hypertension.

Her case casts light on local police, lawyers, land officials and brokers who want to take advantage of her ailment to grab the prime property.

Claim ownership

A former District Officer, who worked in Meru, Isiolo and Thika, until she retired in 1994, Ms Wambui says her predicament started after her bosom friends colluded with land registry officials to sell her plot — registered under Njewan Services co-owned with her son Nelson Mukuna Thiong’o.

When she was allocated the property in October 2009, Ms Wambui paid Sh14,500 after accepting the offer and was given allotment letter for the parcel known as Thika Municipality block 9/430 by the Commissioner of Lands, Nairobi, with leasehold of 99 years.

She was issued with a certificate of lease in December 2011 signed by Thika Land registrar Pamela Mutegi.

But on June 25, 2013, a Thika politician and businesswoman, identified in court papers as Cecilia Wamaitha Mwangi, claimed the ownership of the same land, which had been fenced off and a gate erected by Ms Wambui.  Ms Wamaitha is a former ward rep for Gatuanyaga.

Ms Wamaitha, court papers show, would claim ownership of the land in a letter dated June 12, 2015 and tried to use the Thika Lands office to get another lease title.

In 2018, Ms Wamaitha contested again the ownership of the said land in court using another reference number 300122/8 purporting to be from the Lands ministry. She asked then registrar of lands in Thika to issue her with a certificate of lease.

With the help of police, Ms Wamaitha pulled down Ms Wambui’s gate. Ms Wambui would later get arrested and arraigned the same day at Thika Law Courts. She was charged with damaging a compound gate worth Sh45,000.

“The charges were fictitious. I had, and still have, the rightful documents showing I am the rightful and legal owner of the land but police were arm-twisted and I was charged and released on a cash bail of Sh50,000,” said Ms Wambui.

Unbowed, Ms Wambui moved to court to challenge the charges and then acting Thika Principal Magistrate J.W. Onchuru ruled that the complainant — Ms Wamaitha — had not convinced the court that the plot in question belongs to her.

Damaged a gate

The magistrate observed: “I have looked at the documents, (and) it is clear that the accused’s lease was to run from January 1, 1997 whereas that of the complainant was from August 1, 1998.

This would, therefore, mean that the accused lease was first in time hence the plot will be said to hers... hence (she) cannot be accused to have damaged a gate that had illegally been erected on her property.”

But her court triumph was short-lived. Ms Wambui was arrested by police in 2017 and charged with falsifying land ownership documents. This is despite an August 9, 2016 confirmation by Thika land officer, Mr Muthomi Kaburu, that the records indicated that the land belongs to Ms Wambui and her son.

This was in reply to a query by a Mr Otwori, a senior official at the Ministry of Lands. Despite this, in 2018, Ms Wamaitha was issued with a lease document.

Ms Wambui moved to Thika Chief Magistrate’s court and got orders restraining Ms Wamaitha and her agents from disposing, selling or transferring the land until the matter was heard and determined. An injunction was issued by Thika resident magistrate B.M. Ekhubi.

However, when Ms Wambui did the search again last week, she found that the land has been transferred to Ms Wamaitha. At the moment, there is a car wash on the contested land.

When Nation contacted Ms Wamaitha, she said that she was not in a position to comment and promised to furnish us with crucial documents. For two weeks, she never responded to our follow up.

Detectives, both in Thika and DCI headquarters, told the Nation in confidence that Ms Wamaitha uses her police and land registry networks to cover herself.

The current Thika land registrar Joseph Kamuyu denied allegations that she is shielding Ms Wamaitha.