Marurui demolitions: Pain and agony as houses, plot owners count losses
Nairobi
By
James Wanzala
| May 06, 2026
Hundreds of plot and house owners in the Thome area near Marurui along Northern Bypasses in Roysambu, Kiambu County are counting losses and could have been duped into buying land that was in dispute.
This, after bulldozers demolished their houses on Monday, some under construction, as police, who were said to be implementing a court order that allowed the owner of the land to take possession, watched the exercise.
The incident led to a demonstration leading to arrest of two politicians. When we visited the place yesterday, there was heavy presence of police including the Administration Police and General Service Unit (GSU) with water cannons as hired youth constructed a wooden fence around the disputed land.
According to court documents, the prime 54 acres land and was initially owned by the late Transport Minister John Michuki and nears his Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club.
In the documents, Langton Investments Limited claims it is the lawful and registered proprietor of the land and had even as early as March 2024, issued a public notice. The notice cautioned potential buyers against purchasing any portion of the property and also said it has never subdivided the land into plots nor lost possession of its title deed.
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According to court documents, Meron Limited, which is owned by Anthony Wachira Njoroge and Peyer Maina, claimed that it had inked a special purpose vehicle venture with Langton directors Francis Muhuhu Ndinguri and Stella Wanjiru to develop the property and it had poured in Sh100 million to resurvey and subdivide the land, and for stamp duty.
This led to the issuance of several contested titles under the Nairobi Block 219 series. The land has had a long court battle until in March when Justice Mwangi declared Langton as the legal owner of the property.
At the same time, he ruled that the subdivision was illegal and directed that all titles and certificates registered should be cancelled. When we reached there, jobless youth were also seen busy carting away metals and anything valuable they could get.
Most of the plot and house owners we found at the site trying to salvage the little they could get, refused to speak to the media, saying they were psychologically affected for now.
However, the few who spoke to us on condition of anonymity revealed a possible loss of money and a dream to own homes to unscrupulous land selling company, which had an office in the same land and which was also demolished.
"I bought a 50 by 100 three years ago at Sh3 million from a land broker. I had started plans to build, even brought materials but on Monday, we were surprised to see bulldozers come with police and started demolishing houses and any structure that had been constructed," said a disturbed male land buyer who is in his 40s.
He added: "I am so disappointed and traumatised that I don't know where to start. We just hope we shall get justice and get our money back."
Few metres later, we find a brother of a plot owner, who watched as hired workers continued to salvage what they could. "When he heard that demolition is happening, he was so much affected that he didn't want to come to see this because this incident has really affected him and send me to come and see what we can save," he said.
He added: "My brother had bought three plots of 50 by 100 at Sh5 million each and now it seems now he may not get them back."
As we continued moving around, hired lorries could be seen coming in and leaving in droves to carry salvaged building materials as police watched and guided them.