The Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal decision directing the estate of former President Daniel Moi and tycoon Jaswant Rai to pay an Eldoret family over Sh1 billion for allegedly grabbing their land in 1983.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The family of Noah Chelugui, an ex-chief who died in 2005, accused the former President of acquiring the 53-acre land under mysterious circumstances.
Mr Chelugui’s widow Susan, and son David, sued Mr Moi, Rai Plywood and land officials in Eldoret, arguing the land was forcibly taken from the late administrator on September 21, 1983.
The Supreme Court, presided by Chief Justice Martha Koome, said there was nothing on record to suggest that Moi and Rai Plywood acquired the 53-acre land fraudulently or irregularly.
“Flowing from the foregoing analysis, the inescapable conclusion to which we must arrive is that there was no basis for the appellate court to fault the validity of the 1st appellant’s title to the suit property,” Justices Koome, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Isaac Lenaola and William Ouko said.
The apex court judges overturned the High Court and Court of Appeal decisions directing Moi’s estate and Rai Plywood to pay Chelugui’s family Sh1.06 billion.
Senior Counsel Janmohammed Zehrabanu, the executor of Moi’s Will, submitted that Mr Chelugui never complained of the loss of the property before his death, and that no evidence had been adduced to support claims of the lost or stolen title.
Further, she said the court below failed to consider the admission of receipt of Sh70,000 or appreciate that a Mr Stanley Metto, who was alleged to have obtained the original title by deception, was not sued in his lifetime or thereafter.
Rai Plywood maintained that it was an innocent purchaser of the land from Mr Moi. Mr Rai defended himself by saying he purchased the land in 2007 after doing a search and confirming that it belonged to the former President.
The Chelugui family argued that all efforts to recover the land were futile as various Land Registrars in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu and other officers in the Ministry of Lands were complicit in the acts that led to loss of the land.
“It is clear that between 1983 and 2014, neither Noah Chelugui nor his estate pursued any legal redress aimed at vindicating his claim of violation of his constitutional right to property. Such delay could not be anything else but inordinate, warranting a credible explanation,” the judges said.
Mr Moi’s family had faulted the Land and Environment Court’s decision, stating that the judge was wrong in using the 2010 Constitution to determine the suit instead of laws in place at the time.
In a 2019 decision, Environment and Land Court judge Anthony Ombwayo ruled that Moi irregularly took over the land from Mr Chelugui and later sold it to Rai Plywood, a firm owned by tycoon Rai.
Moi’s appeal at the Court of Appeal was dismissed in July 2022, forcing the estate led by Mr Janmohammed to head to the Supreme Court...CONTINUE READING>>
