‘Secret’ title deed, missing file, forced evictions – ex-Juja Sisal Farm workers speak out

In 1978, Edward Itindi, the then farm manager of Juja Sisal Farm Limited, and the then Embakasi MP Muhuri Muchiri – both now deceased – acting on behalf of the former employees of the company, handed over the original title deed and list of employees to the government.

Other important documents from Sir Wigum, the then-owner of Juja Sisal Farm Limited, included the employer's self-declaration letter on compensation to employees and the letter of surrender for subdivision and issuance of title deeds.

 "The late Muchiri, who had been trusted by the former employees and Mr Itindi to push for the subdivision of the land at the Ministry of Lands, instead betrayed us and constituted Embakasi Ranching Company Limited with some other people who had been living on the farm. These included the first chief of the area – Stephen Githika Gachie – Joseph Wairegi and others who termed themselves 'squatters' on the said land," said Mr Peter Sakala, chairperson of the Ex-Ranching Employees Self-Help Group in Njiru, a lobby group for former workers of Juja Sisal Farm and their survivors.

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However, the ex-workers continued to live on the land, cultivating it communally and tending to the cows, pending the subdivision and issuance of title deeds. They also engaged in quarrying activities on the land to sustain their livelihoods, as sisal cultivation and other activities on the land had ceased with the departure of their employer.

 Between 1978 and 1990, Mr Itindi pursued the matter with the Ministry of Lands for the issuance of title deeds. But his visits had not borne fruit by the time he died in 1990. “After Mr Itindi’s death, Embakasi Ranching Company officials started harassing the former employees of Juja Sisal Farm – they sold our livestock, encroached on our land, and enforced unlawful fees where quarrying was taking place,” Mr Sakala said.

“This pushed us to come together and form a pressure group to follow up on the sub-division process at the Ministry of Lands.” For years, officials from the pressure group have made visits to the Ministry of Lands, but to no avail.

“In one of our visits to the Ministry of Lands in 1995, we were shocked to discover that Embakasi Ranching Company Limited had secretly been issued with a title deed, LR No. 42040, dated March 12, 1987, measuring 11.7 hectares within Block 105.”

The discovery of the title deed necessitated the appointment of Mr Peter Sakala on behalf of the former employees of Juja Sisal Farm to apply to the court for an injunction restraining the directors of Embakasi Ranching Company from further subdividing and titling Block 105 Nairobi under Civil Suit No. 1737 of 1995.

“After the court ruling and subsequent orders served on Embakasi Ranching, they stopped the sub-division of our land but continued to levy unlawful fees on quarry activities on LR No. 10904/2 Nairobi, which we had occupied,” Mr Sakala explained.

Despite the court ruling and the injunction, Embakasi Ranching continued to subdivide the land and issue title deeds.

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On subsequent visits to the Ministry of Lands offices, Mr Sakala and other employees of Juja Sisal Farm were told that File 7086, which contained the documentation of the defunct Juja Sisal Farm, was missing and therefore the subdivision and titling process could not continue. “Information from some officers at the Ministry of Lands offices indicated that the then Commissioner of Lands was colluding with Embakasi Ranching to subdivide and issue title deeds on the land we were living on,” said Mr Sakala.

While this was happening; in 2008, independent auditors found that Embakasi Ranching did not “maintain an up-to-date register for the control of company assets, that they were not provided with title deeds and therefore couldn’t verify the acreage of the company assets.”

On February 5, 2015, a notice was published in the daily newspapers ordering the occupants of Blocks 105 and 106 who did not have title deeds to vacate the land. This came as a surprise to the former employees of Juja Sisal Farm, who had been compensated with land and cows by their employer in 1978 for outstanding salaries, allowances and benefits, and had been waiting for title deeds for 37 years.

“Our houses were burnt [down], households and crops destroyed, and some of our members were beaten and injured. They also chased us away from our land and replaced us with their preferred members who they claimed were the lawful owners of the plots since they had been issued with title deeds. These individuals started erecting their homes [next to] our homes, including perimeter fences. Some of our members [fled] for fear of their lives and are currently living under pathetic conditions in the slums within the Ruai neighbourhood.”

Mr Sakala recalls how he narrowly escaped death when his house was burnt down, destroying everything in it – including important land documents handed over to him after Mr Itindi's death. Copies of the original title deed, the list of employees, the employer's self-declaration letter on employee compensation and the handover letter were destroyed in the fire - OB No 03/11/08/2015 at Mawe Mbili Police Post in Ruai.

“Between 2015 and 2019, the police under the command of the then Deputy County Commissioner Njiru sub-County, in collaboration with Embakasi Ranching Limited Company directors, were harassing our members using live bullets. They were also evicting us, destroying our properties, arresting and prosecuting us on trumped-up charges such as trespass, assault and robbery with violence. This was in an effort to enforce the notice that Embakasi Ranching had published in the newspapers.”

In a letter to the National Land Commission (NLC) and copied to the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) dated September 15, 2019, Mr Sakala complained of human rights violations and forced evictions at LR No 10904/2 Block 105 Nairobi. To date, no action has been taken by the ODPP, which had promised to investigate the matter, he said.

 Mirriam Khamasi, 42, whose mother is a former employee of Juja Sisal Farm Limited, suffered a similar fate. “I was born in Ruai and I had lived at the farm all through until early December 2021 when some goons visited us at ... night. They brought down my mabati house and looted everything in it, leaving my children and me in the cold,” she recalled.

A week before the demolitions, on November 30, 2023, she was served with a notice by Embakasi Ranching. Ms Khamasi reported the matter to the police, and although she went to court, her file was never handed over to the magistrate. “Every time I went to court, I kept on being given a new date for the mentioning, but the case has never kicked off.”

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On September 1, 1999, at an ordinary meeting of the now defunct Nairobi City Council (NCC), Councillor Dick Waweru Mbugua, who represented Ruai Ward, moved a motion that "there was a need to discuss matters relating to Embakasi Ranching Company and the settlement of squatters in Ruai".

His proposals that planning for subdivision and transfer of public utility land be approved by the Town Planning Committee, and that a sub-committee comprising all Embakasi Ward councillors be involved in the resettlement of squatters in the proposed Ruai-Dandora Scheme, were adopted.

 In 2001, the NCC moved to regularise the land as the Ruai Squatters Settlement Scheme. "Apparently, the land we were to be moved to, next to the sewage treatment plant, was also being claimed by other people,” said Sakala.

In documents seen by the Nation, Embakasi Ranching issued a notice in February 2015 asking those who have settled on the land with fake title deeds and those without any documentation to vacate. The same notice also asked those who had encroached on the road reserve to immediately demolish their structures or have them demolished at their own expense.

Three months later, Mr Sakala was forcibly evicted and his house demolished.  Following the eviction, Mr Sakala went into witness protection, fearing for his life. “I was fought, and forcefully evicted for purportedly building on a road reserve. Block 105 and Block 136 had been un-procedurally altered in subdivisions that made a road that was non-existent in the original survey map. Specifically, Block 105 was altered targeting my eviction,” Mr Sakala said.

In September 2015, the department responded in writing, urging him to be cautious about his movements and personal security, but according to Mr Sakala, no action was taken on the matter.

 The Ministry of Lands was aware that there were under dealings on the said land. In a letter dated August 19, 2004, the then Chief Lands Officer, S.K. Mburugu, wrote to the directors of Embakasi Ranching Co Ltd, suspending the processing of title deeds for Blocks 105 and 136, noting that there had been an unauthorised alteration to the approved subdivision plan.  Similarly, Tom Chavangi, the then CEO of the National Land Commission (NLC), found that court orders suspending the subdivision and issuance of title deeds for the said land parcels in 2012 were being flouted.

 With justice not in sight, in February 2018, Mr Sakala approached the Commission on Administrative Justice citing inaction on complaints about Embakasi Ranching brought to the attention of the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning and the NLC by the Ex-Ranching Employees Self-Help Group. On March 19, 2018, the Office of the Ombudsman wrote to the NLC requesting them to address the matter. To date, their requests have not been acted upon.

Again in March 2019, Mr Sakala forwarded complaints to the Ombudsman against Ruai Police Station for their activities in relation to the ownership of LR No.10904/2 Block 105 in Nairobi. He wrote to the Ombudsman that the then DCC Njiru in collaboration with the then OCS Kayole and the then OCPD Mawe Mbili have been harassing the former ranchers. The Ombudsman asked the Ministry of Home Affairs and Coordination of National Government to respond to the allegations within 14 days. To date, no response has been received.

On January 1, 2019, Mr Sakala was arrested along with two others and released on cash bail and never charged in court. "Again on May 20, 2021 a group of Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) officers accompanied by some police officers stormed my house, handcuffed my son and locked him in a county van with his mother, while others demolished my house and looted my belongings. Following this, I alerted the Director General NMS in a letter on May 26, 2021, requesting him to ask his officers to return my belongings. To date, nothing has been done.”

As the dispute over the vast Ruai land continues, most of the former employees of Juja Sisal Farm Limited have died, leaving their children and grandchildren without formal title deeds.

“Some have had to [flee] and continue to live in pathetic conditions within the slums without any sign of light at the end of the tunnel as the people who are running Embakasi Ranching Company Limited activities on our land are very powerful individuals who are well-connected within government circles,” said Mr Sakala.

“We appeal to President William Ruto, Land CS Zacharia Mwangi Njeru, Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki and Gershom Otachi Bw'Omanwa, the Chairman National Land Commission, to listen to our plight [and] even give us an appointment so that we can table our concerns and evidence,” Mr Salaka pleaded.

TOMORROW: Read about the 50-year pain and anguish of old people waiting for their share of Sh2 trillion Embakasi Ranching land