Senior official claims land near JKIA is Gachagua’s

A senior official in the Ministry of Lands has maintained that the Sh1.5 billion property near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) belongs to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

According to court documents, Nyandoro David Nyambaso, a senior assistant chief land registrar stated the property was legally transferred to Wamunyoro Investments Limited, a company associated with the Deputy President on June 18, 2012.

Gachagua has been fighting over the land with former director of Physical Planning John Michael Ohas and his company Columbus Two Thousand Limited.

The DP through his company  Wamunyoro Investments accuses Ohas of illegally obtaining a title deed of the said land in December 2019 and registering it in his company’s name.

Through an affidavit

Through lawyer Philip Nyachoti, the DP stated that he bought the land for Sh24 million from Peter Nduati and Pauline Muringe who owned it through Karandi Farm Ltd and the land is currently charged at Equity Bank over a loan of Sh200 million.

In response to the suit filed at the Environment and Lands Court, through an affidavit, Nyambaso confirmed that the said land previously belonged to Peter Nduati Mbugua, Pauline Mulinge and Karandi Farm Limited.

The Land Register held at the Nairobi Central Land registry was then reported missing and a reconstruction of the register was subsequently initiated

According to the Senior Assistant Chief Land Registrar, the title held by Columbus Two Thousand Limited was irregularly issued as the title for Wamunyoro Investment Limited was already in existence and the same had not been legally cancelled.

“Under these circumstances held by Columbus Two Thousand Limited ought to be cancelled unless the court declared otherwise,” he said in court documents.

He noted the Deed Plan of the said property used to prepare the Title for Columbus Two Thousand Limited is a Certified Copy of the original Deed Plan annexed to Wamunyoro Investments Limited’s Title.

Nyambaso further noted that the property was Charged to Equity Bank Limited for Sh150 million on June 27, 2013 and a further charge for sh 50 million registered on June 8, 2016 by Wamunyoro Investments.

Court documents

He revealed that on October 2, 2014 the officer commanding police station Embakasi wrote to the chief Land Registrar and requested for the verification of the said land.“The response was… Wamunyoro Investments Limited was genuine and formed part of the Land Registry’s records,” he stated in court documents.

Gachagua has maintained that he owns the land and that he carried out due diligence before the purchase where he was able to confirm that the previous owners’ certificate of title was authentic and indeed genuine after they approached him with the intention of selling it.