How much is an acre of land in your locality?
In Kenyan rural areas, the least amount that one can sale their land is estimated to be around sh 600,000.
Land ownership is a very thorny issue for Kenyans. There are so many suites that have been filed in courts, challenging ownership.
Three families who land was acquired by the government at a paltry sh 9,000 per acre have been at courts seeking to be compensated since 2004.
The families whose 12-acre land was taken by the government by force for construction of a hospital in Othaya will however not get more compensation, a Nyeri court has ruled.
Justice Lucy Waithaka of the Environment and Lands Court dismissed the families’ petition and ruled that they failed to make a case against the State.
The families of Wangechi Karoing’o, Thinji Kihiuhu and Githinji Wambugu lost the protracted dispute that started in 1990 when they were evicted from the land.
The land was acquired by government in 1979 for construction of a ward named Nyayo and extension of a hospital, previously known as Othaya District Hospital.
The court heard that the families were paid Sh9,151 per acre. In the court case filed in 2017, the claimants wanted more compensation arguing that the land was undervalued. They said they were supposed to be paid Sh120,000 per acre of land.
“We were forced to lead and live in squatter life which was contrary to our life wishes since we did surrender our family land to the State in good faith without adequate compensation,” the families said in a letter to the then Minister for Lands, Amos Kimunya, dated April 20, 2004.
The letter was produced in court.
They noted: “It is a pity the former government did ignore and neglected to pay the beneficiaries the right award on the disputed land although the claimants have petitioned the same without valid assistance forthcoming from the State.”
The families sued the National Lands Commission and the Ministry of Health arguing that the applicable legal procedures were not complied with in the acquisition of the land.
As a consequence, they suffered and have continued suffering loss and prejudice as their family members were rendered destitute, homeless, hopeless since they were left without any source of livelihood.
The court heard that transfer of the land has never been effected and the title deeds are still in the names of the three persons, who are now dead.
But Justice Waithaka, while dismissing the case, questioned about the long delay in lodging the claim for further compensation and also the procedure used.
“It appears that from 1979 when the suit properties were compulsorily acquired to about 2004, more than 20 years after the alleged illegal acquisition, the petitioners had not raised any issue concerning the alleged breaches of law in the acquisition of the suit properties by respondents,” noted Justice Waithaka.