Setback for Members of Mavoloni Company Thika as Court Rejects Land Ownership Bid

Members of the Mavoloni Company in Thika, have suffered a setback in their long-standing legal battle to regain ownership of a significant landholding. This is after the Machakos High Court rejected their claim to 1,599 acres of land spanning Gatuanyaga and Ngoliba villages, which border both Kiambu and Machakos counties.

The disputed land, identified by parcel numbers Gatuanyaga/Ngoliba/Block 2/1-209, has been embroiled in a protracted legal dispute. Court documents reveal that in 1992, the residents, represented by Mavoloni Company Ltd., applied to the government to subdivide their 1,599 acres into 205 individual plots ranging from 5 to 139 acres each.

As part of the agreement, they surrendered their original title and paid the necessary fees to receive new freehold titles for the subdivided plots. However, the residents allege they never received the promised individual titles.

According to their court filings, they discovered upon receiving responses from the land office that the titles for the 205 plots had been issued in the name of Mavoloni Company in 1992. These titles were subsequently transferred to the Kenya African National Traders and Farmers Union and Standard Chartered Management Agents Limited.

The residents argued that the titles were issued unlawfully, depriving them of their rightful ownership. Their lawsuit filed through Mavoloni Company Ltd. sought several remedies:

In their lawsuit, the residents sought an order from the Land Registrar Thika to rectify land registers. This rectification would have reinstated them as legal proprietors of the land. Additionally, they requested an order directing the Director of Survey to provide a registered registry index map and area list for the land in question.

Furthermore, the lawsuit sought the eviction of the Kenya African National Traders and Farmers Union and Standard Chartered Management Agents Limited from the disputed parcels. The residents also wanted a permanent injunction to prevent these institutions from re-entering, using, or interfering with the land in any way.

Their claims also included the removal of cautions lodged against their original title numbers and a court order requiring Standard Chartered Management Agents Limited to surrender the original title deeds to the residents.

However, Justice Christine Ochieng, presiding at the Machakos High Court, dismissed the residents’ claims. The court found that the Kenya African National Traders and Farmers Union and Standard Chartered Management Agents Limited had demonstrated legal ownership of their respective parcels, with some already transferred to third parties.

Justice Ochieng further ruled that the residents failed to provide evidence of fraud by the two institutions. With the burden of proof not met, the lawsuit was dismissed with costs awarded to the defending parties. The Mavoloni Company members have vowed to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.