Court grants Sacco ownership of Sh10m Donholm land

The Environment and Land court has ruled that a Sacco linked to Green span estate developer are the owners of a Donholm land valued over Sh10million.

Justice Kossy Bor while dismissing the suit filed by Alfajiri Self Group, said that Sauti Sacco Society Limited is the owner of the parcel of land 82/4264, a block from which a portion was hived and sold to Greenspan Developers Limited.

“The suit property was private land and ceased to exist when it was subdivided into two blocks, noting that Alfajiri Self Help Group cannot lay claim to private property it never owned,” Bor said.

The Judge added that the City Council lacked power to allocate Alfajiri Self Help Group the private plot. Sauti Sacco Society in 2007 subdivided the land, LR NAIROBI/BLOCK 82/4264, into two blocks where it sold to Greenspan Developers Limited a portion measuring 50 acres and kept 30 acres.

But Alfajiri moved to court laying claim to this block and seeking that all structures be removed.

“The suit property was not public land and the city council of Nairobi could not have allocated it to the plaintiff (Alfajiri) since it was private land,” noted the judge.

She said the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.

The judge noted that the land was prior to Sauti Sacco owned by Continental developers, and therefore at no time did Alfajiri take ownership of the land.

The judge however declined to order Alfajiri to foot the legal cost incurred by the Sauti Sacco noting that the organization engages in helping people living with HIV AIDs.

Alfajiri claimed that the land was public and it applied and was allocated by the city council.

But in its defence, Sauti Sacco argued that Alfajiri had in 2013 also filed a petition with the National Land Commission (NLC) over the same land.

The case has been in court for 10 years in a battle for ownership.