President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cousin Ngengi Muigai has lost a case against real estate firm Bidii Kenya over a 443-acre piece of land in Thika.
Muigai had sued to block the firm from occupying the land, which it bought at an auction 15 years ago.
The land was auctioned by the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in 2007 after Mr Muigai defaulted on a Ksh18.6 million loan he took from the lender in 1988 to set up a coffee farm. He used land owned by his two companies, Benjoh Amalgamated and Muiri Coffee Estates, as security for the loan. Benjoh Amalgamated was the principal borrower, while Muiri Coffee Estates became a guarantor.
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Mr Muigai has filed 18 cases in the last 30 years in an attempt to stop KCB Bank from auctioning the land.
Later, Bidii Kenya filed an application before Justice Jonathan Havelock seeking to evict Mr Muigai, which was granted but Mr Muigai kept filing fresh case, at some point failing to prosecute them leading to their dismissal.
In the latest ruling, Court of Appeal judges Roselyn Nambuye, Fatuma Sichale and Sankale Ole Kantai have dismissed an application by Mr Muigai seeking to bar Bidii Kenya from occupying the land.
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“Counsel for Bidii Kenya Ltd submits that Muiri Coffee Estates had filed a similar application dated March 18, 2014… seeking stay of execution pending the lodging, hearing and determination of an intended appeal from the ruling and order of Havelock, J, the very relief Muiri Coffee Estates seeks from this court in the application under consideration. Due to Muiri Coffee Estate’s advocate’s nonattendance, the application was dismissed by this court on March 25, 2015,” the Court of Appeal judges said.
“In the absence of any facts to the contrary, the position we take is that indeed there was an earlier application filed by Muiri Coffee Estates seeking the same relief which was dismissed for want of prosecution. In light of the above provision, coupled with Muiri Coffee Estate’s silence on Bidii Kenya Ltd’s assertion on the issue, our hands are tied. We cannot proceed further. We have to down our tools.”
Bidii Kenyabought the land for Ksh70 million at the time of auction.
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