In a significant ruling, a tract of valuable land in Nairobi has been officially taken back from a private company and returned to the people of Kenya. The Environment and Land Court in Nairobi issued the judgment last week, cancelling the title for a 7.11-hectare property inside the Karura Forest area. The land is estimated to be worth 2.8 billion Kenyan Shillings.
The case was first initiated in 2007 by the anti-corruption agency, highlighting an 18-year effort to resolve the dispute. The property, known as Nairobi Block 91/386, was held by a company called Gigiri Court Limited.
How Public Land Was Taken
According to the investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the land was created through a series of irregular transactions. The property was formed by merging two pieces of land. One part was originally reserved for the Kenya Technical Teachers College, and the other was a section of Karura Forest that had never been legally released for private use.
The investigation found that the former Cabinet Minister, the late John Joseph Kamotho, first acquired a 2.5-hectare piece of the forest land illegally. This was merged with another parcel and registered to his company, Gigiri Court Limited, in 1994. The company later sold the property, and the new owners conducted a survey that carved out an additional 3.8 hectares from the forest. A lease for the full 7.11 hectares was then issued to the company in 1995.
Court Declares Ownership Invalid
In his ruling, Justice David Mwangi stated that the land was public property and its allocation was contrary to Kenyan law. The court declared the Certificate of Lease held by Gigiri Court Limited null and void, meaning it could not confer any valid ownership.
The judgment carried several key consequences. The land register will be rectified by cancelling the lease. The company and its agents are permanently barred from dealing with the land in any way other than surrendering it to the government. The court also found two former Commissioners of Lands, Wilson Gacanja and James Raymond Njenga, personally liable for their illegal actions in issuing the lease.
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