Kenya Kwanza Deputy Presidential aspirant, Rigathi Gachagua has filed a motion seeking to gain complete ownership of a land parcel near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The land whose value is estimated at Sh. 1.5 Billion has been facing ownership trouble since the late 90s.
Gachagua has sued a retired civil servant, Mr. John Ohas, claiming that his title deed obtained in December 2019 registered under his company name, Columbus Two Thousand Ltd. was fraudulent and illegal.
The former director of physical planning at the Ministry of Lands had also previously filed his lawsuit against Mathira MP, Rigathi Gachagua who sought revocation of his title deed. He however withdrew his lawsuit in June 2022 to prevent Gachagua from planning a counter-suit.
“After tampering with the records at the Lands Office and illegally obtaining the second title and thereby purportedly extinguishing the plaintiff’s title from the records, the defendants then withdrew the suit without the same being determined on merits,” stated Mr. Ohas’ lawyer, Phillip Nyachoti.
Gachagua claims to have bought the land parcel for Sh.24 Million from Mr. Paul Nduati and Ms. Paul Muringe in 2012. They owned it through their business, Karandi Farm Ltd back in 1999 for Sh. 554,000.
Currently, the land has an accumulated loan amount of Sh. 200 Million charged by Equity Bank, when Gachagua used his land title deed as security to obtain the loan.
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Mr. John Ohas claims that he had been assigned the land by Kenya’s second President, Daniel Moi in 1994. Mr. Ohas claims that in May 1996, he fell sick and travelled to the UK for specialized treatment and then returned to Kenya more than a decade later.
He says that he then realized that the land ownership belonged to a business known as Wamunyoro Investment Ltd; the company run by the Gachagua family.
The ex-director sought help from the National Land Commission in April 2017. All efforts then bore no fruits when the NLC ruled in favor of Gachagua’s business, Wamunyoro Investment Ltd.
The High Court also declared him the owner of the land in November 2020. Mr. Ohas filed another motion and withdrew it a month ago. Gachagua now looks to sue the ex-Civil Servant in court, and ensure that his family is the sole owner of the property. He will also be filing for damages.
