Tobiko steps in to end decades of legal battle

Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko wants the Ministry of Lands to resolve a boundary dispute between two landowners in Laikipia.

Mr Tobiko has directed that a court order that would have seen the complainant, Mr John Mathenge evict the plaintiff, Mr Cyrus Wamugunda from his land be referred to the ministry to help establish the boundary.

The DPP faulted the High Court order and now wants the lands office in Laikipia to demarcate the boundary of two parcels of land in Marmanet Settlement Scheme to end a dispute that has lasted three decades.

The two neighbours have been fighting over the boundary since 1983. Both have title deeds to their respective pieces of land they were allocated in 1977. The titles were issued by the Lands Ministry.

Two previous rulings by a land tribunal ordered Mr Mathenge to vacate the land saying he had encroached into his neighbour’s farm. However, Mr Mathenge moved to the High Court in Nakuru in 2003 to challenge the directive. And in 2012, the court ruled that instead, Mr Wamugunda should be evicted from his land on the grounds that it belonged to Mr Mathenge.

“It is clear from the facts of this case that both plaintiff and defendant in this case have proper titles to their lands, 711 and 712 respectively. The only dispute is the location of the boundary separating the two plots,” the DPP says in a letter addressed to the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Ndegwa Muhoro.

Mr Muhoro had referred the matter to the DPP after Mr Wamugunda complained when he was evicted from his farm by police who were implementing the court order.

IDENTIFY BOUNDARY

“The court order should have been directed to the lands office to demarcate the plots and identify the boundaries. Instead the order was effected by the decree holder hence the complaint herein,” says the letter signed on his behalf by principal prosecution counsel, V.I Kabaka.

“There is evidence the dispute had been resolved by the lands office in Laikipia before Mr Mathenge moved to the High Court,” says the letter.

The dispute followed a decision to merge the two plots allocated by the government under Settlement Fund Trust, even though the plan was discontinued. The land was carved out of Marmanet Forest to settle the landless.

Mr Wamugunda’s late mother was given Laikipia Marmanet Ext 712 as Mr Mathenge got Laikipia Marmanet Ext 711.

In 2004, Laikipia District Land Registrar officers marked the boundary separating Ext 711 and Ext 712 and told the dissatisfied party to seek redress in court.