A Moi-era diplomat and Permanent Secretary Benjamin Kipkech Kipkulei has lost a 2,500-acre parcel in Naivasha estimated to be worth billions of shillings following a court ruling that may have left the prime property’s ownership in limbo.
Mr Kipkulei had sued Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd and three of its officials – Edward Maina, Jane Maina and Moses Gakinya – in 2021 claiming ownership of the land and sought compensation for the group’s alleged destruction and trespass on the property.
Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd filed a counterclaim, arguing that it has always been the registered owner of the land and that Mr Kipkulei obtained ownership documents through fraud.
Naivasha High Court judge Lynette Omollo has dismissed both Mr Kipkulei’s suit and the counterclaim by Nbibithi Farmers Company Ltd, a move that now creates mystery over the property’s ownership.
Mr Kipkulei claimed to have purchased the land in 2007 from various individuals who were allotted the property by the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC).
He did not, however, file any evidence of sale agreements or payment for the land in court. During the hearing, Mr Kipkulei said he did due diligence on the property but could not confirm if the process indicated that the people he paid were listed as the registered owners.
The former PS said he bought six subdivided pieces of land but did not know their total acreage.
Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd insisted that the land has never belonged to the ADC, and was originally owned by Lord Gilbert Preville Colville, a British settler.
Mr Maina, Ms Maina and Mr Gakinya argued that Lord Colville asked his workers to form a company through which he could gift them the 2,500 acres.
They argued that Ndibithi Farmers Company received a title deed for the land in 1974.
Justice Omollo said that neither party had given sufficient evidence to prove ownership.
