By Wahome Thuku
A land dispute involving the family of soccer star Dennis Oliech turned ugly on Wednesday when his mother violently confronted two lawyers in court over the matter.
Mary Auma Oliech caused a stir at the Nairobi Milimani Law Courts when she confront lawyer Philip Nyachoti demanding to get back the land title deed from the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) who are his client.
Nyachoti had to be escorted out of the Milimani court premises by security guards as an angry Ms Auma shouted at him demanding to get back the document.
Outside the courts, she confronted another lawyer Tom Wachakana who is representing her children in the suit against her. She accused the lawyer of contacting her children and filing the suit without consulting her.
The drama which attracted a crowd of onlookers marked the start of the case in which her two children Elsie Oliech and Kennedy Oliech want their mother and KCB stopped from selling a multimillion family property in Nairobi.
The events unfolded even after KCB had assured the family that it would not release the title deed to any party until the matter is settled by the court.
The land is a prime property located at Karandini in Dagoretti, Nairobi. Elsie Oliech claims the family mobilised resources in April 2006 and bought the land which they registered under the mother’s name in Trust of the family.
In 2010, their mother used the land to secure a Sh2 million loan from KCB which she allegedly failed to clear.
“We are shocked that without the family knowledge she charged the property to the KCB,” Elsie says.
The Oliech siblings filed the urgent case at the High Court last week claiming that both their mother and KCB were planning to sell the property and had already identified a buyer.
Through lawyer Wachakana, they sued the mother and the bank and applied to have them temporary restrained from advertising for sale, selling or in any way dealing in the property.
When the case resumed on Wednesday, Nyachoti told the court that he had just received the suit papers and needed time to respond. He said KCB was however undertaking not to release the title deed to the intended buyer until the matter was determined by the court.
Soon after the adjournment Ms Auma confronted and bitterly shouted him down the corridors.
“Give me my titled deed. It is in my name and you must give it to me now. What kind of a lawyer are you? Where did you study law?” she challenged the KCB advocate.
Dressed in a red dress and a matching hat she ran after Nyachoti down the staircases after a judiciary security officer intervened.
As the crowd milled outside the premises, she confronted Wachakana and told him, “Ulikuja kwangu ukaita watu wangu. Wewe in wakili wa aina gani?” (You came to my home and called all my children. What kind of a lawyer are you?). The lawyer walked away without responding.
Documents from the lands office indicate that the land was charged to the bank for Sh2 million on May 15, 2010.
The children want the court to declare the charge null and void and to impose a permanent injunction restraining their mother and the bank from selling the property.
“If this court does not intervene now we are bound to suffer irreparable damages as we cannot get compensation sufficient enough to replace our family property,” they say in the suit papers.
The Oliech family is famous for producing top soccer stars Dennis, who is based in France playing for League 2 club Auxerre and his brother Kevin Oliech who plays for Mathare United. The hearing will resume on November 1.
