Land in case between investment company and Lamu residents not ancestral, Swazuri says

Muhammad Swazuri, the chairman of the National Land Commission of Kenya, in Mpeketoni, Lamu on April 7, 2016. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He said in evidence before Justice Oscar Angote the land situated in Mwashundwani, Hindi Magogoni “is not ancestral land as claimed by over 100 local residents who have been sued by Stima Investment Cooperative Society for encroaching into its property”.
  • The residents, through their lawyer Tukero ole Kina, have urged Justice Oscar Angote to declare the land in dispute their ancestral land and revert it to them.

Seventy acres in Lamu valued at Sh107 million being claimed by more than 12,000 members of a savings and credit cooperative society (Sacco) and 100 residents is not ancestral land, Muhammad Swazuri, the chairman of the National Land Commission of Kenya, told the High Court on Wednesday.

He said in evidence before Justice Oscar Angote the land situated in Mwashundwani, Hindi Magogoni “is not ancestral land as claimed by over 100 local residents who have been sued by Stima Investment Cooperative Society for encroaching into its property”.

The residents, through their lawyer Tukero ole Kina, have urged Justice Oscar Angote to declare the land in dispute their ancestral land and revert it to them.

But the members of Stima Investment Co-operative Society, through its chief executive officer Nelson Irungu, say they bought it from local resident Ahmed Mohammed Oscar on July 10, 2013 and registered it as their property on December 18, 2015.

Justice Angote heard that investigations conducted by Mr Swazuri had established that nobody had settled on the land when Stima Investment Co-operative Society bought it from Mr Omar.

“Indeed the chronology indicates that the land was acquired by Mr Omar from the local people some time ago and it was not ancestral land, and that the area remained bushy except for a small cleared area,” Mr Swazuri said in evidence filed in court.

He said “the Local Chief and Local Committee Report (CLMB) affirms that the land is not ancestral land as there are also no aged crops like mango, cashewnuts or coconut to prove that the land had inhabitants before”.

The chairman of the National Land Commission said elders around the disputed land asserted there had been no development from the time it was acquired.

In his affidavit, Mr Irungu said the commission had no legal mandate to interfere with the dealings of the land.

Stima Investment Co-operative Society is urging the court to bar the residents from interfering with the land.

Justice Angote, who fixed the case for hearing February 15, 2017, directed all the parties to file in court all evidence they intended to rely on.