A Mombasa-based businessman has received Sh. 9.9 billion as compensation.
The billions were awarded by the High Court to Afzalkhan Rahimkhan and his family for wrongful acquisition of their 328.5 acre piece of land in Diani, Kwale County.
Mombasa High Court judge Eric Ogola awarded the colossal amount after finding that government officials had collaborated with a private company to illegally acquire the land.
Justice Ogola arrived at the figure after pricing each of the 328.5 acres at Sh. 30 million.
“This property was illegally taken away from the petitioners. The takeover was carefully designed, and was effected with utmost impunity. Even after that takeover, the Chief Land Registrar did not bother to rectify the title to reflect the takeover. Those were mighty forces, and the petitioners could not do anything about this. The petitioners’ rights were violated and a wrong done does not rot,” the judge ruled.
Official records at the Registrar of Land show that the property has been subdivided among hundreds of individuals, making it difficult to recover in one piece.
Mr Rahimkhan’s children had alongside three other individuals —Daniel Mwangi, Pauline Mwongela and Sayed Mushtaq Hussain —sued the Chief Land Registrar, the Attorney-General and the Commissioner of Land, seeking compensation for the land that was transferred to Kasika Developers in 1978.
The businessman died in 1991 in the middle of a fight with the government over the property.