The Mountain Journal
The board of management of Samuru- Gituto Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Murang’a has decried disappearance of their land court files, that had orders for cancellation of all titles owned by individuals who bought 301 acres owned by the society without shareholders consent.
The chairman of the Society Mr George Kuria Njuguna, in 2016 they won the case they had appealed against the individuals who bought parcels of land in the Appeal Court sitting in Nairobi.
The disappearance of the court order emerged when the society officials pursued the matter at the land registry to facilitate the cancellation of the titles issued.
The society activities have been sabotaged after the disappearance of the crucial document required in the process.
The land in question is alleged to have been disposed of to the individuals without consent of the 4,826 members as the law demands.
Kuria says the issue has resulted in them not conducting Annual General Meetings; they await help from the court registry.
“We have been advised to reconstruct some other files bearing the names of the individuals owning title deeds and title numbers to start another process seeking nullification of the title deeds,” said the chairman.
In a judgment delivered by judges Philip Waki, K Musinga and J Otieno Odek, the Court of Appeal issued orders restraining the respondents from entering in any dealings including the sub-division and sale of the 301 acres in the strength of orders issued by the lower courts.
The judges harshly described the faction that had sold the land and their lawyers saying
“…This is yet another conundrum precipitated by persons masquerading as leaders of co-operative societies and land-buying companies, in the process causing considerable pain and hardship to humble and poor wananchi, whose only sin was to get together and pool their meagre resources to buy and share land.
Invariably, the motivating factor for the leadership squabbles is the greed for power and influence, or simply put, corruption. Sadly, in this unholy mix are lawyers who are expected to assist the parties and shed light on the law but instead end up complicating matters even further.”
The matter has been reported at Murang’a DCI and Murang’a County Cooperative offices, pleading with members to be patient awaiting interventions from the national and Murang’a county government.
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