Family grieves over land that led to patriarch’s death

Business

By Alex Kiprotich

Every time Elisha Kipruto lifts the pump to fuel a client’s vehicle, his heart becomes heavy, as he has to face a building fast coming up a few metres from his workstation in Kabarnet town. He grieves, not because he is an engineer and wishes he was part of the construction team, but because the land on which the construction sits belongs to his late father.

A troubled Kipruto talks to the Press

As his sight is trained on the happy workers arranging the building blocks layer by layer, Kipruto sheds a tear for his father Stephen Kiptoben whose body is lying in a morgue in Eldoret town.

"When my father realised that the plot had been taken away, he was affected and more so when the developer started building on it. He was stressed and had gone to seek justice in Eldoret High Court after the council refused to give him a hearing," said Kipruto.

He says on Tuesday, the day he was to file a case in the High Court, he died a few minutes before appearing in court to seek justice.

"I talked to him on Monday while on his way to Eldoret and he was really depressed. He could not reconcile with the fact that the property he struggled for years to acquire had been grabbed, " he stammers.

He adds, "He had to die. That building coming up there killed my father." He says the family learnt the plot opposite Kobil Petrol Station in the stony town had been allocated to someone through the son of the man he bought the land from. He said lands records showed it had been transferred to someone else.

"That is when he realised there was another person and when he wrote a complaint letter, even before it was acted on, the new developer started bringing in building materials," he said.

According to documents availed to The Standard on Sunday, Plot LR NO 9038/183 measuring 0.045 acres was allocated to Mr Reuben Chebutuk in October 18, 1984, but he later sold it to Kiptoben for Sh1.2million.

Chebutuk, however, died before transferring the plot to Kiptoben. His son Kipchumba was in the process of doing the same when it dawned on them that they only owned the plot on paper. The new owner was now Mr Hillary Kipkosgei Kiboinett, who is constructing a six-storey building.

"I went to Lands Ministry in June and was shocked when I was told it is registered under someone else’s name. The plot, which was originally number 13 had been parceled number 67 to create confusion," says Kipchumba. The allotment letter for Kiboinett shows it was issued in 1998 by deputy lands commissioner, a Mr Kosgey but is not signed. The name is also wrongly spelt.

Kabarnet town Councillor Joshua Matetai said the issue came to the attention of the council when development plan for the plot was presented on September 8, for approval yet the developer had already started construction.

"This was unprocedural in the first instance that one cannot develop a plot before being approved and the new developer came with the title from Nairobi and it raised some questions from some councillors who knew about the plot," he said.

Collusion

He said shortly after the developer presented his plan, they received a complaint letter from Kipchumba who is the legal representative of the estate of Mr Reuben Chebutuk and another from Kiptoben asking the council to halt the approval of the plan and investigations to begin on the circumstances in which Kiboinett was allocated the plot.

The civic leader said they asked for the file with details of the plot, but it was not availed in subsequent meeting as a majority of councilors ganged up to approve the new ownership. From the council minutes in our possession, three councillors opposed the approval. When this writer visited the plot, he found construction workers busy at work and was accosted by the foreman Stephen Komjhen who warned journalists to keep off the matter because there was nothing they could do to reverse the situation. However, after the writer left and in an attempt to compromise him, Komen sent him Sh5,050 through Mpesa to let the matter rest. Our investigations point to a collusion by some of the civic leaders and council officers who aid anyone interested in getting plots in the town by destroying previous ownership documents and changing ownership after being paid.

A source privy to the deal confided in the journalist that a councillor was given Sh300,000 to share with other councillors and not raise questions on the plot. Kabarnet Mayor Julius Kiprop, however, said no one was bribed to approve the plot but could not say why the complaint letter was not tabled in their planning meeting. He said he suspected Kiboinett bought the plot from land brokers.

"I do not know how the new owner acquired the plot and the title and I do not know why the complaint letter was not tabled in the meeting but no one was given money to approve it," he said. But the new developer contradicted the mayor, saying that the council allocated him the plot and has been paying rates and rent to the council.

"No one has told me there is a problem with the plot and it is the council which allocated me. I did not buy from anyone," he said. Kabarnet businessman Mr John Kiprono said the council should not abscond its duty to protect property of all investors, and that plot owners are now worried that they may have lost their land to unscrupulous individuals.

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