About 420 families face eviction from disputed 63-acre prime land

Member of families facing eviction in Pipeline Estate during a meeting on March 22, 2024. [Courtesy]

More than 420 families in Pipeline Estate, Nakuru, face eviction from the disputed 63-acre land they have occupied since 1992.

The Environment and Land Court Judge Anthony Ombwayo ruled on March 14, 2024, that the families were unlawfully occupying the land and ordered their eviction within 90 days.

Justice Ombwayo granted 14-day leave to the families to appeal against the ruling.

The families are anxious even as divisions emerge among a section who are shareholders of Nakuru Workers Housing Cooperative Society. Two meetings were held within the estate on March 16 and 22, 2024, following the ruling where the families resolved to appeal the decision and seek a stay of execution.

However, a section of the members intimated to The Standard that some of their officials contributed to the eviction order.

The source revealed that the families are split, with half supporting the officials and the rest raising money to appeal the case.

Jane Wanjiru said they were shocked by the eviction order from the land she had occupied for 25 years, despite promises by the company that their title deeds were being processed.

She regretted that her husband, a former secretary of the association, was killed while fighting for the rights of the 421 families and now the pending eviction will be double tragedy for her.

Scolastica Wambui disclosed that the families paid Sh2.6 million, through the society, to be allocated the land and the eviction order was confusing.

Peter Ndung'u, the chair of the society, called for unity insisting that fighting against each other will not help their cause.

Justice Ombwayo ruled that the society breached a sale agreement they entered with Thuo Commercial Agencies Limited on March 6, 1990.

The judge said that evidence in court shows that the society only paid Sh2,046,000 to the agency and defaulted on payment of Sh600,000.