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The High Court has certified as urgent a lawsuit filed by former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta seeking to compel the government to issue her with a title deed for 1,000 hectares of land based in Taita Taveta County.

Certifying the urgency of the suit, Justice John Chigiti of Milimani High Court on Friday, December 22, 2023 allowed Mama Ngina together with former Taveta MP Basil Criticos to formally file a substantive motion within 14 days compelling the Land Registrar and Attorney General Justin Muturi to issue them with a title on the land measuring 1062.3 hectares in the coastal region.

Applicants granted

“The Applicants are hereby granted leave to apply for a judicial review order of Mandamus compelling the land Registrar to issue and release to the applicants the Original Certificate of Title to Land Reference Number 10287/7 as the registered proprietors thereof in the performance of his statutory duties and obligations under the provisions of Sections 26 and 30 of the Land Registration Act, 2012, “Justice Chigiti ordered.

The judge also ordered the Land Registrar and the Attorney General to file their responses to the case within 14 days before the mention of the case on March 5, 2024.

The directives by the court came after Mama Ngina and MP Basil filed the case faulting the government for failure to issue them with a title deed despite being the actual owners of the land.

“In breach of his said statutory obligation or duty, the Land Registrar has to date failed to issue to the applicants (former First Lady and the MP) the said Certificate of Title in relation to the said parcel of land L.R No. 10287/7 Taveta.

“The said breach or failure by the first respondent (the Chief Land Registrar) denies the applicants the statutory right to have or hold the said Certificate of Title as evidence of proprietorship of their said parcel of land,” read the court documents in part.

Only Land Registrar can explain

The two indicated that only the Land Registrar can explain why they have been denied the title deed of their property.

Ngina ‘s lawyer Walker Kontos argued that failure to issue his clients with the certificate denied them the right to hold the said certificate as evidence of proprietorship of their said parcel of land.

“The Land Registrar is the custodian of the said documents and is the only person to explain why the applicants have been denied their said certificate of title,” they informed the court.

The former MP contends that before the subdivision of the land, they were the registered owners as joint proprietors. But later, parties divided the land and transferred the subdivisions which were registered and given their respective certificate of title.

“It is now over one year since the property was registered under the provisions of the land registration act, and the registrar has failed to issue to the applicants the said certificate of title,” argues the former MP.