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A legal tussle over the ownership of Sh26 million prime piece of land pitting a magistrate and a renowned herbalist in North Rift region has taken a new twist after the latter appealed a ruling that favoured the judicial officer regarding the disputed property.

The land in question is located in the posh Elgon View estate on the outskirts of Eldoret City.

In his appeal, the herbalist, Shadrack Moimet claims that he was not served with justice arguing that the lower court favoured the Magistrate, Charles Ariba Kutwa as one of their own.

He is accusing the Principal Magistrate, for failing to declare conflict of interest in the matter bearing in mind that by the time of instituting the case he was serving as a principal magistrate at Iten Law Court.

This, despite the fact that the case was going at the Eldoret Environment and Land Court as E & L no 97 of 2020.

In the matter, Kutwa sued the herbalist accusing him of failing to surrender to him transfer documents of the land known as LR.NO.PIONEER/NGERIA BLOCK 1(EATEC/8844 which he claimed to have bought from the defendant.

Financial transactions
In his response Moimet accused Kutwa for defaulting in the transaction as well as failing to present in court financial transactions that were involved in the sale of the said property.

On November 22, 2024, an Eldoret court issued a decree compelling Moimet to seek and obtain all the required documents including consent, title deed among other required documents and surrender them to the plaintiff.

The order stated that in the event the defendant fails to surrender the said documents, the executive officer of the court was mandated to execute the same.

“An order of specific performance of the terms of the agreement sale executed on April 22, 2016 between the plaintiff and the defendant is hereby issued, the prayers for an order directing the executive of this honorable court to execute all documents necessary to effect the transfer of the land to the plaintiff in lieu of Patrick Ngumbao Mweni (deceased) is hereby declined since the plaintiff was clear that he will not be seeking any executable reliefs against the deceased,” stated the court order issued by Eldoret Principal Magistrate Mogire Onkoba on November 22, 2024.

While challenging the order Moimet claimed that he purchased the said land from the deceased on July 17, 2011.

He, however, admitted that in 2016 he had offered to sell the same land even without transferring to himself.

Agreed to sale
Moimet, who operates his business in Eldoret City and major towns in the North Rift region, told the court that the plaintiff through his lawyer, Dalmas Mwinamo approached him and agreed to purchase the same parcel of land for the sum of Sh4.5 million.

According to Moimet, they entered into the sale agreement where the Magistrate made a partial payment of Sh1 million as he promised to clear the remaining balance.

The defendant claimed that he agreed with the terms of engagement due to the position of the magistrate by the virtue of his position in the society.

Moimet claimed that the plaintiff failed to honour the terms of engagement instead he took possession of the said property without clearing the balance.

On his part the plaintiff has insisted that he cleared the payment of the entire transaction as he accused the defendant for failing to surrender the required documents.

The move, he argued, forced him to sue Moimet so as to be compelled by the court to surrender the said documents.

Moimet has already written a letter to the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) complaining about the said Magistrate.

In the letter dated July 13, 2021, Moimet accused the respondent of abusing his position in the society expressing fear that he might use his position to grab the land in dispute.

“I do pray that the Magistrate be reprimanded for his action for abuse of power and failing to meet the required standard of integrity in accordance with his standing in society in relation to Chapter Six constitution of Kenya,” stated Moimet in his letter to JSC.

The court of appeal sitting in Eldoret is expected to issue a hearing date on the matter this month through notice of motion.