Miller refuted claims that the land had been transferred from Habenga Holdings to Jina Enterprises Ltd on April 23, 1983 yet the latter was registered on October 5, 1995/file
Lawyer Cecil Miller told the High Court on Wednesday that the 134-acre land belongs to Muchanga Investments after the Ministry of Lands and Commissioner of Lands registered the company after sub-division.
Miller told Judge Lucy Gacheru that the Director of Survey, Director of Physical Planning, Ministry of Land and Registrar of Titles made transactions of ownership with the applicant and issued it with two certificates of title.
“The respondents should not be heard saying they have no documents indicating the applicant as the owner of subject land,’’ he argued.
Miller refuted claims that the land had been transferred from Habenga Holdings to Jina Enterprises Ltd on April 23, 1983 yet the latter was registered on October 5, 1995.
“From the documents of registration, it is impossible for Jina Enterprises Ltd to have owned the property before it was even conceived,” he said.
“It is also physically and spiritually impossible for the respondents to have been writing to the two companies that came into existence in 1995,’’ he added.
City businessman Dimitri da Gama Rose (Muchanga Investments Limited) and former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Managing Trustee Jos Konzolo, – the owner of a company called Telesource – are involved in a two-way tussle over the ownership of the 134-acre land.
Documents presented to court by the Ministry of Lands indicate the prime land was sub-divided by Telesource into 189 plots.
Da Gama Rose’s firm Muchanga Investments Limited has sued Telesource, Habenga Holdings, Jina Enterprises Ltd, Director of Survey, Director of Physical Planning, Ministry of Land, Registrar of Titles and Chief Land Registrar in the dispute.
Da Gama Rose has since written a protest letter to Land and Housing Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu, claiming the illegal invasion of the land was being supervised by ministry officials.
In an affidavit filed in court, Da Gama Rose claims ownership of the land saying he bought it in 1982 — 32 years ago — from Arnold Bradley through Barclays Bank of Kenya for Sh1.2 million.
He has accused government organs of condoning grabbing of private property and disregarding the rule of law.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is currently probing the matter following reports that a top official in the Jubillee Coalition administration received 10 acres, a Cabinet Secretary got six acres, a governor five acres while the 40 MPs involved in the scheme received between half-an-acre and two acres each.
An acre of land in Karen currently sells at Sh50 million.
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