Court ends 53-year-old dispute over JM Kariuki's land

The family of late politician Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, popularly known as JM Kariuki, has won a property dispute against his former alleged dancers after 53 years.

Justice Joseph Mugo ended the dispute over possession of 808-acre land in Ol-Kalou, Nyandarua, between JM’s family and the group of 580 farmers, dubbed Nyakinyua Ndorua Kanini Kega farmers Company Limited.

The group wanted to be declared owners, having allegedly been given as gift the land by JM in 1973, or alternatively be declared owners under adverse possession, having occupied the land for over 12 years.

However, Judge Mugo ruled that the 580 were trespassers in JM’s land since September 28, 1988, when the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal over the possession of the land.

He also ruled that as per court records, the 580 were strangers before the court, since the farmers’ company could only allow 20 members, adding that they did not provide a list of names for the members.

Further, he declared that although JM wanted to gift his property to the group, he only agreed to give the land to his dancers who were women.

“A declaration is issued permanently barring the 580 strangers from trespassing or interfering in any way with the possession of the land in question,” ruled the judge.

He declared that the ownership claims by the 580 had already been dealt with, where the court held that the alleged gift transfer between JM and the dancers was incomplete.

“This case was already dealt with by the High Court and the Court of Appeal and it is res judicata. From the judgment, it is clear that JM died before transferring the land to the group,” ruled the judge.

He retaliated that those who moved to court, mostly men, cast doubt as to the genuineness and authenticity of the group.

He also noted that the group divided and filed separate cases, disagreeing on who the rightful members were.

According to Mugo, the 580 could only be declared owners under adverse possession if they occupied the land without permission from JM.

However, he ruled that evidence from some of the members, including their officials, was that JM allowed them to occupy the land provided they settle a loan owed to the Settlement Fund Trustees and Agricultural Finance Corporation who laid claim on the land.

“All the witnesses that testified in this case were in agreement that the people in occupation of the suit land entered on the same with the permission of the proprietor, the late JM,” said the judge.

Further, he ruled that there was evidence that their stay was interrupted. by JM’s widows and children who wanted to evict them.

“The interference makes it impossible for the group to claim the land under adverse possession because they are supposed to have occupied the land without any interruption,” ruled Mugo.

He noted that one of the witnesses admitted that for over 30 years, the late MP’s kin had tried to evict them from the land.

“By this admission, the plaintiffs (group) shot themselves in the foot. The claim of ownership through adverse possession must fail just as that of ownership by way of a gift,” the judge ruled.

He called out some of the group members as opportunists who had land elsewhere but moved to the disputed land to be considered beneficiaries of land not completely gifted.

According to Mugo, most of the people settled there were not Nyakinyua, those who JM wished to give them the land.

“The true Nyakinyua families are still on their old ancestral lands. The leaders of this group used the opportunity to extort money from ignorant people in the name of settling a loan and which money they could not account for,” he ruled.

He noted that they failed to explain how much the loan was or how much they received from their members. He called for further investigations from the County Criminal Investigations Officer.

The judge ruled that JM’s widows Doris Nyambura and her co-widows Esther Mwikali and Terry Wanjiru were the real owners of the property alongside their kin.

He condemned those who filed the case to pay the cost of the dispute to JM’s family.

The group who called themselves farmers and dancers provided evidence showing that JM was to gift them part of his land. However, they claimed ownership of the entire property.

Evidence provided in court showed that the planned transfer of property between the late politician and the group did not materialize before he died in 1975 and there was no written agreement.

Court visited the property and despite the 580 claiming they occupied the majority of the land, it was evident that most part of the land was not occupied.

The dispute ends after over 53 years of dispute between JM’s family and the group.