DP Gachagua defies court on eviction of 105 Nakuru families

A 44-year-old land controversy between two land buying companies has placed Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on a collision course with the Judiciary and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

Gachagua on Saturday led the reconstruction of houses demolished by an auctioneer who had orders from the court to evict those who had encroached on the land for four decades.

The DP further announced that action would be taken against Nakuru County Police Commander Peter Mwanzo who deployed police officers to provide security during the February 16 evictions.

"If an eviction has to be done for whatever reason, even with a court order, it has to be discussed by the county security committee. We have instructed the Attorney General to review this case," said Gachagua.

The DP issued a stern warning to the police saying that they should not supervise demolition of private property without approval by the county security committees.

"Any county commander who supervises an eviction without authority from the county security committee will be on their own," said Gachagua.

Court case

Some 105 families who are descendants of 57 members of Kiriko Farmers Company Limited were evicted on Thursday after losing a court battle with their rivals Ngenia Farmers Company Limited.

"These people are not going anywhere. I have come with 70 iron sheets, a bag of rice and beans and Sh10,000 in cash for each family. The county police commander has been removed," he said.

Mwanzo who was famed for steering the police service in the county in restoring security and order in Nakuru County has since been recalled to Vigilance House and replaced with Mr Zachary Kimani.

"We have a very professional police service but we have a few bad officers among them. We shall follow up on their case. This action has brought a lot of shame to the Kenya Kwanza government which is a people's administration," said Gachagua.

The move has irked the Law Society of Kenya which has termed Gachagua's sentiments and actions as regrettable and amounts to subversion of a court's findings.

"The Deputy President instructing and assisting the evictees to reconstruct their houses on the same land they were evicted from is a very bad precedent," said Rift Valley LSK chair Aston Muchela.

"This is a case that was handled by a magistrate, two judges who have served as Chief Justices (CJ) of this country and other courts all of whom were for the eviction," added Muchela.

Nakuru Chief Magistrate Joseph Kalo, Principal Magistrate Wendy Kagendo, Judges Phillip Waki, Martha Koome, Hannah Okwengu and David Maraga are among those who handled the matter.

After losing the case in the magistrate's court, members of Kiriko Farmers moved to the High Court in 2007 where former CJ Maraga gave them the option of buying the land from Ngenia.

"The appellant (Kiriko) shall within 60 days deposit in court the present market value of the suit land for the respondent (Ngenia) to purchase an alternative parcel," Maraga said in his May 12, 2010 ruling.

Members of Kiriko Farmers however moved to the Court of Appeal where the matter was heard by a three-judge bench composed of Waki, Okwengu and current CJ Koome.

"Taking into account the circumstances of this matter, we are not convinced that the application deserves the exercise of this court's discretion in favour of the applicant. The application is dismissed," the three judges ruled on April 20, 2012.

Following the Court of Appeal ruling, Ngenia Farmers moved back to the magistrate's court and used the ruling to obtain eviction orders against those encroaching on the farm.

"To ensure an orderly process, members of Kiriko Farmers shall be served with a 60-day notice to voluntarily and peacefully remove themselves from Ngenia's land LR 2684/2," Chief Magistrate Joseph Kalo ruled on August 7, 2018.

The actual eviction orders were however issued by the same court on April 20, 2022 directing OCS Subukia Police Station to supervise the eviction exercise upon expiry of a 60 days amnesty.

"The police and Ngenia Farmers were human enough to delay the eviction by nearly eight months. It leaves us in shock that now that they have implemented it, the matter has taken a political angle," said Muchela.

According to Muchela, the subsequent victimisation of police officers who supervised the exercise was against the law.

"To insist that police were supposed to consult after being served with a court order is to undermine the rule of law. As LSK we are opposed to this. A ruling made by the court should not be antagonised by politics," said Muchela.