421 families fighting to keep possession of 63-acre in limbo as wrangles escalate

421 families in Nakuru County are facing evictions from a 63-acre land in Pipeline area over a dispute with their leaders.

The families have differed with leadership of cooperative society that brought them together to purchase the land for settlement.

The families who are members of the  Nakuru Workers Cooperative society, blame their leadership for losing a court case to a commercial agency.

The court declared that the property they had possessed for three decades belonged to Thuo Commercial Agencies, a private developer.

Two weeks ago, the families kicked out their society board members, blaming them for their misfortune.

However, the leaders who were supposed to hand over the office this week, have refused to vacate their offices and instead frustrated the handover process.

A source who wanted to remain anonymous intimated to The Standard that the handover was supposed to happen on Wednesday, but the leaders frustrated the process.

“They only surrendered photocopy documents instead of the originals and some are frustrating the smooth handover. A dispute escalated in the office and by now they have not fully handed it over,” said the source.

The source alleged that the leaders also tampered with the society’s bank account.

The source indicated that they plan to push for the handover tomorrow (Friday) in a bid to ensure the newly elected leaders take over.

“We do not trust the leaders because they failed us and are the reasons the families face eviction, including widows and widowers, orphans and the elderly,” said the source.

On their part, the leadership have denied the claims that they sabotaged the families and indicated that they were doing everything to ensure they are not evicted.

The sticking point is the ownership of the land on which the families subdivided, built permanent homes and settled peacefully from 1992, until 2024, when the court ordered their eviction.

Judge Anthony Ombwayo ruled that the property belonged to Thuo’s agency and that the families, through the society, breached a contract of agreement.

The dissatisfied families successfully obtained a stay against eviction pending appeal, they also turned against their leaders, accusing them of hiding evidence which led to the defeat in court.

“The families were sidelined during the court case, when the case was pending judgement, documents that would have strengthened their case emerged but by then it was too late,” said the source.

The wrangles escalated during the meeting after the officials, through their chair Joseph Mwangi communicated that they had negotiated for the families to pay the agency a total of Sh170 million to retain their plots.

According to Mwangi, each family would be required to pay Sh420,000 to get title deeds.

However, the families expressed shock, insisting that they were not involved in the negotiations.

They heckled the officials, demanding the appeal to proceed, however, Lawyer Gakuhi Chege informed them that they would have to part with Sh6 million legal fees, for the appeal.

“We were not consulted on the legal fees and the hidden evidence proved that we did not breach the contract. Why was the evidence not submitted in court within time!” shouted one member.

Another member complained that the board made decisions on behalf of the members and only reached out to them when they wanted money.

Mary Kayesi, a member, said she had lived in the land since 1991 but she did not have title deed and depended on the officials to instead of defending them, made a deal with the enemy.

“We are shocked that we elected leaders to defend us but they have neglected us. They are making decisions on our behalf. Even during the court case, they sidelined us,” said Kayesi.

According to Kayesi, the families paid what was required in full and that is why they were allowed to take possession of the land.

“The officials even asked for Sh35,000 for us to get title deeds and gave us land verification letters too. How would that be possible if we breached the contract?” she posed.

On his part, Mwangi said that the board had stood with its members since it took office in 2018 and successfully obtained the stay to stop the eviction.

Mwangi insisted that in every step they took, members were involved, including the Sh6 million legal fees agreed with Gakuhi.

“We lost the court case and as a board we feel that negotiation is the best way because it will be a win-win situation. We negotiated from Sh500 million to Sh170 million,” he said.

According to Mwangi, Thuo’s agency agreed that each member of the family would pay the Sh420,000 to retain the land.

He said that members had different opinions and even others had personal interests and that was why there were disagreements.

Lawyer Gakuhi confirmed that they had lodged an appeal and had obtained a stay, pending the same.

Pipeline land dispute

421 families face eviction from the disputed land in Pipeline, Nakuru.

63 acres: Size of the disputed property, divided into 421 plots.

Since 1992 families have occupied the land and built homes.

32+ years: Period the land dispute had lasted before eviction orders were issued.

Sh2.6 million: Estimated value of the land in 1990.

Sh170 million: Amount negotiated with Thuo Commercial Agencies for families to retain their plots.

Sh420,000: Amount each family would reportedly pay for a title deed under the proposed deal.

Sh6 million: Legal fees quoted for the appeal.

Sh500 million: Initial amount reportedly sought before negotiations reduced the figure to Sh170 million.

2024: Court ordered the families' eviction after ruling that the property belonged to Thuo Commercial Agencies.

Stay granted: Families obtained a stay of eviction pending their appeal.

No title deeds: Despite decades of occupation, families do not have title documents.

Community facilities: Churches, schools, boreholes and permanent houses have been established on the land.