Cooperative Bank CEO, Mr Gideon Muriuki. PHOTO/COURTESY
By OUR CORRESPONDENT
A firm linked to the family of Cooperative Bank CEO, Mr Gideon Muriuki, is entangled in a Sh 1b land dispute in Donholm, Nairobi.
The land dispute involves Gidjoy Investment Ltd associated with Mr Muriuki’s family who are part of the developers in Greenspan Estate and squatters under Alfajiri Self-Help Group and other parties.
The matter is now before the Environment and Land court where Justice Antonina Kossy Bor has ruled that the land in dispute parcel number 82/4264, was part of the land owned by Sauti Sacco Society before it was hived off and sold to other developers.
Gidjoy Investment Ltd filed an application seeking to set aside orders issued in March by the High Court over the ownership of the contested land that is at the centre of a legal tussle and encroachment by squatters.
Also involved in the dispute is another party called Sowesava Self-Help Group whose chairman Alex Shihemi was arrested and charged recently with forgery and deception.
Sowesava Self-Help Group had obtained orders suspending Gazette Notice No.1550 of February 15, 2019 pending hearing and determination of the application.
However, Gidjoy Investment Ltd has contested the orders obtained by Sowesava Self-Help Group and urged the court to set aside and stay the orders.
“It is only fair and just that the said orders be stayed pending hearing and determination of this application,” the firm says in its papers.
It adds that the orders were obtained ex-parte and error as the Gazette Notice was clear of the other matters pending before the Environment and Land Court.
In the court papers, the company argues that it was aggrieved by the order suspending the gazette notice issued by the Environment and Land Court.
The company adds that Sowesava Self-Help Group applied to enforce their rights over the original title deed number 82/7375 and therefore the order granted was defective.
In the matter, members of Sowesava Self-Help Group said they have been living on the disputed land for more than 30 years and they had requested the government to allocate them the land and they were accordingly issued with allotment letters.
They added that the County Government of Nairobi filed a complaint with the National Land Commission (NLC) over the issue and a determination dated November 14, 2016 was made in their favour.
