High Court dismisses land case against Mama Ngina

Nairobi, Kenya - A Nairobi Court has dismissed a case filed against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s mother, Mama Ngina over a 3.5 acre land in Gatundu.

High Court Judge Joseph Onguto dismissed the case by President Kenyatta’s uncle, Peter Mungai, saying the latter had not produced evidence to prove that he owned the disputed land.

Mama Ngina was sued by her brother-in-law for allegedly grabbing the land. In his ruling, Justice Onguto found that evidence had, however, been produced in court by the respondents showing that the land was owned by the late Jomo Kenyatta.

He said documents tabled in court indicated that the land was registered under the senior Kenyatta’s name in the 1960s before he became President.

“There was no pointer that the petitioner (Mungai) ever acquired the land. The petitioner acknowledges that it was the late President who owned the land,” Onguto said.

The judge further said that the petition before the Environment and Lands Court was time barred. He noted that the elderly man could not have filed a suit while the late President was in power between 1964 and 1978, but added that he could have filed it immediately the senior Kenyatta died.

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Mungai had argued that his application was not time barred and urged the court not to dismiss the case on a mere technicality. Onguto directed Mungai’s lawyer to refer the matter to the National Land Commission.

Mungai went to court in 2012 where he asked the court to have the land transferred back to him. He further sought compensation for imprisonment which he says was a way of grabbing the land from him.

Uhuru had been named as a respondent but had his name struck out when he became Kenya’s fourth President. The Constitution gives a sitting President immunity from legal proceedings. In an affidavit filed by Uhuru before he was struck out of the proceedings, he said that Mungai’s allegations were new to him.

“The said land was at all material times rightfully owned and registered in the name of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta pursuant to a certificate of title issued on or about March 19, 1963,” he said.

He said that after Mzee died in August, 1978, the land was transferred to his wife Mama Ngina.