Court enjoins 200 IDPs in contempt case against State

Justice Dalmas Ohungo of the Environment and Lands Court in Nakuru allowed an application by the 200 IDPs, who sought to be included in contempt proceedings filed against the Government and the Ministry of Lands over their settlement on the disputed family land alleged to have been acquired by the State for them. PHOTO:COURTESY

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been enjoined in a suit over a 750-hectare (1,853 acres) parcel in Subukia.

Justice Dalmas Ohungo of the Environment and Lands Court in Nakuru allowed an application by the 200 IDPs, who sought to be included in contempt proceedings filed against the Government and the Ministry of Lands over their settlement on the disputed family land alleged to have been acquired by the State for them.

The IDPs in their application filed on February 15, 2017, through their lawyer Kiplang'at Kuragt, sought to stop their eviction from Ndonga Farm in Subukia after the family filed a suit questioning the process through which the Government acquired the land.

They IDPs sought conservatory orders arguing that the decision made by the court would impact on them directly as they were occupying the land.

Kurgat had urged the court to allow their application citing that if not allowed, his clients were to suffer irreparable loss.

According to Kurgat, the IDPs were being evicted by the family through underhand means.

"My clients are being evicted by a section of the family members who claim ownership of the land and I wonder why this is happening to them, they are innocent and know nothing about the land," said Kurgat.

The Ndonga family in its suit accused the Government of obtaining the land fraudulently through corrupt family members who were not authorised to sell the land. They further stated that the land was disposed off at a throw-away price.

Through their lawyer Steve Biko, the members of the family wondered whether investigations were done to ascertain that the land was devoid of disputes.

They had sued the Ministry of Special Programmes and Ministry of Lands for illegally resettling the IDPs on the land against a court order dated October 19, 2011 directing the ministries not to do so.