Businessmen who won big in Kenyatta kin land case

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cousin, Ngengi Muigai. PHOTO | FILE 

By BRIAN WASUNA, bwasuna@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The Supreme Court last month dismissed a suit Mr Muigai had filed seeking to revoke KCB’s sale of the prime land to Bidii Kenya.
• The ruling effectively paved the way for the Bid family to take possession of the land they bought at an auction nine years ago.

Nairobi-based Bid family has emerged as the biggest winner from last month’s conclusion of a 30- year court battle between KCB and a cousin of President Uhuru Kenyatta Ngengi Muigai — over a 443 acre piece of land in Thika valued at over Sh3 billion.

The Supreme Court last month dismissed a suit Mr Muigai had filed seeking to revoke KCB’s sale of the prime land to Bidii Kenya — a real estate firm owned by the Bid family — in 2007 for Sh70 million.

The ruling effectively paved the way for the Bid family, best known for its large presence in the insurance and securities markets, to take possession of the land they bought at an auction nine years ago.

Mr Muigai, through his firm Muiri Coffee Estate, had obtained temporarily relief from Thika Chief Magistrate’s Court where he obtained an order barring Bidii Kenya from occupying the land.

Principal Magistrate Benson Ireri granted the order on May 19 — the same day the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the matter.

But Mr Ireri last Wednesday ruled that Mr Muigai’s firm had obtained the order by failing to disclose all facts pertaining to the dispute and consequently lifted the order.

Mr Ireri also declined to further hear the case Muiri Coffee Estate filed last year in Thika, arguing that his court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

“Our auctioneers are already on the way to Thika Police Station to ask for assistance in executing the eviction. We are waiting to see what they say, but hopefully in the next week we shall have taken occupancy of the land,” said Rahul Bid, a director of Bidii Kenya.

KCB in a Supreme Court application seeking to dismiss Mr Muigai’s suit argued that several judges had ruled that the bank was right to auction the land to recover its money after Mr Muigai’s firm — Muiri Coffee Estates — failed to repay a loan it had guaranteed another company in 1988.

READ: Uhuru’s kin loses 30-year land battle

Mr Muigai, however, questioned the decision by other courts to rule on the matter considering one of the case files in its battle against KCB went missing.

The missing file was said to have had a consent agreement between Muiri and KCB allowing the lender to auction the land in the event the coffee estate defaulted on the new repayment terms.

The battle for ownership of the property, however, took a political turn two weeks ago after Kiambu governor William Kabogo and Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu pledged to help Mr Muigai regain possession of the land.

The Bid family owns BTB Insurance, which has twice been named among the Business Daily’s Top 100 mid-sized companies in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, the company emerged top in the best financial services category.

The family also owns Bid Securities, a stock brokerage firm in Nairobi and Tausi Assurance.