Wrangles at Githunguri land buying firm intensify

Chairman of Githunguri Ranching Caretaker Committee, Ahmed Chege, cuts tape to officially open the ?rm‘s new office. [PHOTO: KAMAU MAICHUHIE/STANDARD]

RUIRU: Wrangles within Githunguri Constituency Ranching Company are set to go a notch higher after one faction opened its own office, parallel to the existing one.

Speaking while opening the new office in Ruiru town Thursday, Ahmed Chege - who is Chairman of the group calling itself the Caretaker Committee, said the new office is replacing the old one.

SOUND LEADERSHIP

He said the previous office holders were last month barred by the High Court from discharging any duties on behalf of the company following a certificate of urgency filed in the court.

Mr Chege, who filed the application, also said orders were sought restricting defendants from altering the company’s documents pending the hearing.

The orders were granted by the Environment and Land cases Division of the High Court sitting in Kerugoya town.

Chege faulted the current leadership for continuing to transact business saying they were defying a court order and said his team will soon move to court to press for contempt charges.

He said the caretaker committee will this Saturday hold a shareholders meeting at Kwihota Primary School to reconstruct a new shareholders register for the purpose of calling for elections soon.

“We want to bring change to this land buying company. Things will not be business as usual. We will clean-up the mess at the firm by putting in place sound leadership,” Chege told the Press.

ILLEGAL TEAM

Monica Wanjiru, a member of the caretaker committee, extended an olive branch to the current leadership to join them “for the sake of bringing change in the company”.

However, in a swift rejoinder, current chairman John Maina dismissed the group saying it comprises land brokers out to dupe unsuspecting shareholders.

“They cannot purport to be legitimate officials since they have not been elected by shareholders,” he said.

Mr Maina asked shareholders to desist from dealing with the new office saying those who do so will only have themselves to blame should anything go wrong