When Daniel Moi left power in 2003, a number of people took him to court seeking various orders against the retired president.
Among
them was farmer and neighbour Malcom Bell, who accused the former head
of state of...
taking 100 acres of his land near Kabarak High School.
taking 100 acres of his land near Kabarak High School.
Mr
Bell sued Mr Moi and the school in 2003, seeking to recover the land
for their failure to honour his late father’s conditions to have them
sink a borehole, construct a cattle dip and supply electricity to his
expansive 1,000-plus acre farmland.
But retired Justice
Muga Apondi exonerated Mr Moi from blame and ruled that the school had
acquired adverse possession of the land.
The land,
which has been in possession of Moi High School Kabarak since 1981, is
opposite the learning institutions and is used to cultivate food crops.
Mr
Bell appealed against the decision and justices Martha Koome and Hannah
Okwengu overturned the ruling and gave Mr Moi six months to vacate the
land.
Mr Moi and Moi High School Kabarak filed an
appeal and successfully sought permission to be allowed to move to the
Supreme Court, but five judges of the top court dismissed the appeal
stating that there was nothing of great public importance in the matter,
ending a 10-year court battle.
Retired Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal, justices Philip
Tunoi, Mohammed Ibrahim, Njoki Ndung’u and Smokin Wanjala dismissed the
case and awarded costs to Mr Bell saying the case was neither unique nor
were arguments raised in it, of general public importance as alleged.
Later,
it emerged that the parties, the retired president, Moi High School
Kabarak and the Nakuru farmer had entered into an agreement to settle
the dispute out of court.
“While the ruling was pending
delivery (by the Supreme Court), the parties amicably settled all cases
between themselves in a manner that promoted good neighbourliness,” a
notice to parents, guardians, friends well-wishers and the general
public stated.
In yet another case, former Alego Usonga
MP Otieno Mak’onyango sued the government and Mr Moi personally for
atrocities he suffered when he was detained after the failed coup in
1982.
Trial judge Kalpana Rawal, absolved Mr Moi of any
blame but slapped the government with a Sh20 million bill for the
torture the former editor and politician suffered.
Justice
Rawal said in the ruling that the evidence before her led to an
“irresistible conclusion that the detention of the plaintiff was
unconstitutional, unjustified and unlawful”.
Mr
Mak’onyango accused the government and Mr Moi of violating his
fundamental rights as enshrined under sections 70, 71, 72 and 77 of the
former Constitution.
While exonerating Mr Moi, Justice
Rawal said it would be unjust and unwarranted to make a head of state
personally responsible for failures or misdeeds of State officers
without showing his direct participation. “The head of state is not
synonymous with the person holding that post unless he is shown to be
involved for personal gains or vendetta,” said the judge.
And
former deputy director of intelligence Stephen Mwangi Muriithi sued Mr
Moi seeking close to Sh2 billion for unlawful detention and occasioning
him financial loss.
Justice Jeanne Gacheche in 2011
ruled that Mr Muriithi’s detention without trial was not for the
purposes of preserving public security, but for Mr Moi to secure
commercial advantage and to interfere with his liberties and rights.
The
retired president appealed and in 2014 the Court of Appeal rescued him
from paying the former intelligence chief over Sh1.9 billion. The
appellate court set aside the decision saying Mr Moi was not personally
responsible for Mr Muriithi’s detention, which was an action of the
State.
Justices John Mwera, Daniel Musinga and William
Ouko also said Mr Muriithi failed to prove the losses he claimed to have
suffered when in detention.
“Claims by Mr Muriithi
that they jointly had three companies with Mr Moi to ascertain
percentage of shares was not proved. His claims that Mr Moi sold off and
transferred some of the properties were also not proved,” ruled the
judges.
And recently, a group of 249 pastoralists sued
Mr Moi and African Wildlife Fund over an expansive parcel of land, but
lost the case in 2017. Led by Joseph Lekamario, the group laid claim
over the 17,105-acre parcel in Laikipia North.
The case
was, however, dismissed by Justice Lucy Waithaka saying evidence
adduced showed that at no time did the community dispossess the
registered proprietors of the land.
“I find that it
does not show that the plaintiffs at any time material to the suit,
dispossessed the registered proprietors of their interest in the suit
property or that the registered proprietors at any time material to the
suit discontinued their possession of the property,” the judge said.
Evidence
in court showed that Mr Moi initially owned the land before
transferring 17,105 acres to AWF. The court heard that the group
occasionally grazed their animals on the land and the owners had on many
occasions engaged the local community to discuss social benefits due to
the community, to sustain wildlife conservancy.
Mr Moi
told the court that he bought the property on or about 1998 from Ol
Pejeta Ranching Limited, and there were no squatters. He initially kept
livestock before he transferred it to the current owner.
AWF
is said to have approached Mr Moi to sell the land to them for
conservation, because it was a crucial wildlife migratory corridor.
The
farmers were later slapped with a Sh8.2 million bill by Mr Moi’s lawyer
Juma Kiplenge. Although the case is pending before the Court of Appeal,
Deputy Registrar of the High Court Damacline Bosibori taxed the amount
the members of the community are to pay Moi’s lawyer at Sh8,267,666.
No comments :
Post a Comment