Athi River homeowners did not know land was disputed

A woman gasps as a bulldozer demolishes a home in Athi River. The land the evictees occupied had a mother title under a company called Aimi Ma Lukenya. [Peterson Githaiga, Standard]

Hundreds of people who have lost their homes in Athi River may not have been aware that the land was contested.

It is puzzling how the developers and homeowners were caught flatfooted after a court struck out a case filed by the society that sold the land to hundreds of people.

On Monday, several developers were left in tears as they watched bulldozers bring down their properties.

It has now emerged that the homeowners bought the plots unaware of any court tussle.

The court case came to an end last week, on October 9, just four days before the demolitions started.

On Monday, The Standard caught up with some victims who revealed that all along they knew that everything was well despite not having individual title deeds to their parcels of land, all the land they occupied belong to a mother title under a company called Aimi Ma Lukenya.

Eunice Wanjugu Matu, 40, is one of the victims who spent more than Sh15 million to build a home which was in the final stages of construction.

“I have nothing to do, all this is what I had as my investment, I’m back to zero, there was no notice or anything,” narrated Wanjugu.

To put up the home, Wanjugu says she had secured a Sh2 million loan and topped her savings but all is gone with the bulldozer.

A few metres from Wanjugu’s house are rental houses belonging to Catherine Njeri, her properties worth Sh4 million have gone down.

“When I bought this land four years ago, I was given a copy of the mother title, which I searched at the Ministry of Lands in Machakos,” she told The Standard.

“The title bore the name of Aimi Ma Lukenya Society, it is now a mystery when we are told that the land belongs to a cement factory,”

Meanwhile, Josphat Mugaka, another victim suspects that the company that sold the plots was not honest.

Like several others whose millions have gone down the drain, Pastor Shadrack Musau has lost his Mountain View church which was constructed three years ago.

The church also owns a school with more than 250 pupils. He says the pupils will miss their examination following the demolition.

A man watches helplessly as his house is demolished for illegally occupying the East African Portland Cement land, October 14, 2023. [Peterson Githaiga, Standard]

Court case

On October 9, the Environment and Lands Court in Machakos, struck out the case filed 10 years ago by Aimi ma Lukenya Society after they failed to comply with court orders.

Aimi had asked the court to declare them as the legitimate owners of the contested land. They claimed that the land was transferred to their society on May 20, 1980.

Justice Annet Nyukuri observed that the court had accommodated the officials several times but they never served the parties in the case.

On May 17, the dispute was mentioned before the judge, and she directed the squatters to ensure that they physically served the court papers to all the parties whom they had listed, failure to which, the court would strike out the case.

The complainants said they were unable to serve the court papers and the squatters had declined the court’s goodwill.

She stated that the orders for service had again been issued in November last year.

Further, Justice Nyukuri directed the squatters to pay the cost of the case to Portland, the Attorney General and the National Lands Commission.

At the heart of the battle was 4,298 acres of property owned by the cement company located along Mombasa Road, south of Athi River Township in Machakos County.

On the other hand, the more than 7,000 members under the umbrella of Aimi Ma Lukenya Society claim to have 4,298 acres and a title deed acquired on May 25, 1980, a decade ago.

Even so, a letter has resurfaced indicating that in the year 2015, then Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

He urged EACC to investigate the alleged grabbing of over 13,000 acres of land belonging to the East African Portland Cement Company.

Mutua said the land was public property adding he was aware that interested groups involving senior government officials and brokers are implicated in the sale of the land.

He urged EACC to investigate all elected leaders suspected to be involved in the grabbing.

“People have been sold plots and havestarted constructing. My government has not approved sub-division, planning or building permits. Many people we suspect have been conned.”