Ex-Starehe MP Kirima's family handed possession of Njiru farm
Hundreds of squatters who settled on more than 1,000-acre parcel of land in Nairobi’s Njiru area belonging to the family of former Starehe MP Gerishon Kirima were given up to December 31 to vacate the area or face eviction.
In a win to the Kirima family, which has been battling with illegal settlers on the land since 2003, Environment and Land Court judge Samson Okong’o dismissed a claim by squatters who said they had lived on the land uninterrupted for more than 12 years.
Three groups of squatters lay claim on the land and stated that they were entitled to the parcel through adverse possession.
Justice Okong’o, however, said the squatters entered the land without legal basis and started construction of their houses. “The plaintiff (Kirima family) has proved that the defendants did not obtain his consent before entering into his said parcels of land and commencing construction thereon,” he said.
The defendants were in the circumstances, trespassers on the said parcels of land,” the judge said.
The judge also found another group of persons had genuinely purchased the land from the late Kirima before he passed on.
The judge directed the administrators of the estate, the widow Teresia and daughter Anne Wangari to complete the sale of the properties and issue the purchasers with title deeds.
They include Geoffrey Mungai, who purchased 14 parcels, Paul Ndung’u who bought several parcels, Victoria Technical Enterprises, Mr Isaac Mbugua and others.
The squatters were, however, not lucky as the judge said they did not even show how they arrived at the acreage they were claiming.
A group of 300 people led by John Otieno Obade, who used to work a nearby quarry claimed 80 acres, another group of 1,310 people led by Stephen Maina under the Kamatuto Self Help group claimed 160 acres while another under Nadidai Muoroto Self Help Group claimed 501 acres.
“There is no evidence as to when each of the 1,310 members of Kamatuto had occupied the suit property for a period of 12 years as at 2011 when they allegedly brought the present suit,” the judge said.
