City Affairs

High Court restrains eviction of Kirima land settlers

High Court restrains the family of the late Nairobi politician Gerishon Kirima and Nairobi County government from evicting settlers occupying the Kirima land

By Joseph Ndunda | Friday, March 1, 2024

Justice Omange of the Land Division issued the orders after 31 officials of Chokaa Upper Chamber; one of the groups of settlers occupying the infamous Kirima land sought the court’s intervention.

The High Court has restrained the family of the late Nairobi politician Gerishon Kirima and the Nairobi County government from evicting some of the settlers occupying the Kirima land in Njiru Sub-County.

Justice Judy Omange issued a preservation order preventing Kirima widows Teresia Wairimu and Anne Wangare, the Land registrar, and two groups of settlers occupying the land from interfering with a group occupying the land in the Chokaa area.

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The groups sued alongside Kirima’s widows include Unity Self Help Group, Hurlinghum Squatters Development, and Njiru Mihango farmer’s scheme.

Justice Omange of the Land Division issued the orders after 31 officials of Chokaa Upper Chamber; one of the groups of settlers occupying the infamous Kirima land sought the court’s intervention.

The judge directed that the matter be mentioned on March 5 before the presiding judge of the High Court’s Land Division for further directions.

The 31 officials of the settler's group sued the family and the rest through lawyer Cecil Miller.

They stated that they are not disputing the high court's judgment dated October 23, 2023, which directed all squatters inhabiting the land to depart by December 31, 2023.

However, they claim it has been difficult for them to reach a consensus with the Kirima family to pay for the parcels of land they occupy because of interference by middlemen.

“The governor (Johnson Sakanja) and the Deputy County Commissioner had on various attempts tried to have discussions with the plaintiffs members and (Kirima family) but no consensus has ever been reached to date as the process has been interfered with by unknown persons who are standing brokers to benefit from the transactions,” the suit papers state.

In an affidavit sworn by their representative Mackenzie Odera, the 30 officials say their group instructed Miller to intervene on their behalf after they received varied quotations of amounts of money they should pay for the land they occupy, from groups claiming to be representing Wairimu and Wangare.

Odera’s group claims that Kirima family advocates sent the letters indicating the prices without consulting them.

“The said letters confirmed that the family of Gerishon Kirima was selling the plots in which the plaintiffs (Chokaa Upper Chamber members) failed to pay the stated purchase prices to the family then the family reserved the right to evict them,” states the suit papers.

The group also argue that it is not clear to them whether the land they occupy is part of the Kirima family land and want a survey map or a survey to be done to ascertain the exact location of Kirima’s land and establish whether they are affected by the vacate orders issued by the high court last year.

During the mention, the head of the Land Division at the high court is expected to allocate a judge to hear the case.