W***n loses land as court revokes t*tles
A businesswoman has suffered a blow after the Environment and Lands Court revoked title deeds of three plots she had acquired from former Lands commissioners Wilson Gachanja and James Raymond Njenga.
Justice Samson Okong’o ruled that the properties belong to the Kenya School of Government but were illegally sold to Julie Mathenge.
Okong’o ruled that the grants made to Mathenge had been acquired unlawfully, as they were allocated through political connections as evidenced in a letter dated January 2, 1981, by Njenga, the former Commissioner of Lands to the woman addressed to Hon. G.G.Kariuki, the then Minister of State in the Office of the President.
“The letter leaves no doubt that Plot No. 11509 was allocated to the plaintiff through the influence of Hon. G.G. Kariuki, who had expressed a wish that the plot measuring 0.2284 acres should be allocated to Julie N. Mathenge,” the judge ruled.
Court found that Gachanja and Njenga acted outside their statutory power when they allocated the said woman a public land reserved for KSG and which had Government buildings in it.
Mathenge had moved to court in 2006 claiming she was allocated the plots in 1981 for purposes of a petrol station, shops, offices and flats and was issued with a title deed.
