Uhuru uncle’s wild goose chase for papers in 34-year land row

President Uhuru Kenyatta's uncle Gathecha Muhoho.

When a frog runs in broad daylight, something must be after it, so goes an African saying.

This truism holds for 74-year-old grandfather who has been negotiating the dangerous maze of Nairobi in search of answers.

Ideally, the ailing potato farmer, Gathecha Muhoho from Kinangop, would have hopped into a cab and cruised to the most famous address in Kenya, State House, for a tête-à-tête with his famous nephew to resolve the 34-year-old landtussle.

He is not a stranger in State House, for he worked there daily between 1971 and 1975 during Jomo Kenyatta’s reign, as a telephone operator, before he quit to concentrate on farming.

Although over 1,000 acres of prime land in Ngong is at stake, that is not how the arthritis stricken farmer hopes to untangle the saga, which dates back to January 1, 1985.

Commitment

Long before Uhuru Kenyatta became President, Gathecha made a commitment in 2003 to help his friend Njoroge Mungai, a member of the Gikuyu na Mumbi Group, recover the land.

The group had bought the land from cattle breeders in Ngong for Sh7 million.

The crisis started on New Year’s Day in 1985, when a contingent of heavily-armed police officers stormed Oloolua Forest and arrested 28 members of Gikuyu na Mumbi Group and locked them up at Ngong Police Station.

Among the people arrested was Nyamagana Karanja, who was carrying documents, including those of ownership, for two pieces of land covering 1,474 acres.

The following day, on January 2, the peasant farmers were arraigned before District Magistrate PN Mugo and charged with removing forest produce without a permit and trespassing into Oloolua Forest with intent to annoy.

The land under dispute in Ngong.

Mugo was dumbstruck and said, “... all the accused before me are very poor old lot. Some are blind, others are cripples, while some are very weak. Such pathetic human beings should never have been brought to the court. The administration should find a solution to their problems.”

However, when all the accused pleaded guilty to both counts, he ordered them to pay a fine of Sh150 each for each count.

In a moment of inspiration, Nyamagana, acting on behalf of the 300 members, applied to be supplied with copies of the proceedings.

She had no idea that her incarceration was the beginning of a three-decade nightmare whose end has to date eluded her and her descendants.

When the group returned to the police station to get the documents, which had been impounded by the police, they learnt that the titles and letters of allotment to the land they had been accused of trespassing on, as well as a letter from President Jomo Kenyatta, were missing.

Numerous petitions and visits to the police station and other offices yielded nothing, until then Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Yusuf Haji was moved by the government’s inactivity, five years later.

In a letter to the Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer on December 6, 1990, Haji wrote, “The case is taking too long to be finalised, and I am kindly requesting you to deal with it and see how best to help Nyamagana Karanja who is an old lady.”

Two months later, the Officer Commanding Ngong Police Station handed over a book register with all the members to Nyamagana, Annah Njoki, Dolocaus Njeri and Njihia Kiragu, but the titles and the letters were still missing.

Realising that the important land ownership documents had been withheld, the group sustained its campaign by obtaining a number of police abstract forms with a view of getting copies of the title deeds from the registrar of titles.

There was a ray of hope on June 22, 2005 when Chief LandsRegistrar Jeremy Birichi wrote to Gikuyu na Mumbi Group, advising them, “Since you have an affidavit and police abstract, you are advised to present them to the LandRegistrar Kajiado for further action.”

Missing register

The letter added, “By a copy of this letter, the District LandsRegistrar Kajiado is required to forward to this office certified photocopies of the register for Ngong/Ngong 21400, 2627 and 21399.”

Kajiado Lands office responded to Birichi on July 1, 2005 and forwarded some files, but stated that the register for Ngong/Ngong 21400 was missing from their records.

According to Gathecha, the documents had been plucked from the registry to facilitate the annexation of the huge chunk of land. He wondered how the records for this property could go missing.

Despite demands and reprimands from Birichi, the Kajiado lands registrar never forwarded the same records, prompting the chief registrar then, CW Ngatia, to fire an angry letter on October 26, 2005.

“Continued correspondence and complaints on the matter is becoming ridiculous and it is apparent you have made very little effort, if any, to resolve the matter,” Ngatia wrote.

The Chief Lands Registrar directed Daniel Mulili, who was the senior lands registrar in Kajiado, to ensure the issue was determined once and for all, and demanded that he files a report to his office within 21 days.

The ultimatum again was ignored, prompting Gathecha to complain to the Office of the Ombudsman (Commission on Administrative Justice).

Gathecha says he is determined to resolve the issue of this land because nearly all the original members of  Gikuyu na Mumbi are dead, and he fears that their descendants do not have any background about the case.

“The Ministry of Lands has mistreated Gikuyu na Mumbi. Our documents were snatched by the police who refused to surrender them. There are people who are waiting for all members to pass away so that they can appropriate this prime land. I will not give up for I am the voice of the voiceless,” he vows.