A three-judge bench faulted the National Land Commission for misleading the Ministry of Education in the matter leading to the payment of the sum to the businessman/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 28 – The National Land Commission (NLC) misled the Ministry of Education in undertaking a compulsory acquisition of a 13.77-acre parcel of land in Ruaraka which led to loss of public funds, the High Court ruled on Friday.
Justices Bernard Eboso, Elijah Obaga and Kossy Bor said Sh1.5 billion payment to businessman Francis Mburu for the acquisition of land on which two public schools sit was illegal.
“We find that the compulsory land acquisition should not have happened in the first place. One cannot compulsory acquire what is an already public land,” ruled Justice Obaga.
The three Judges ruled Ruaraka High School and Drive Inn Primary School sit on public land which could not be subjected to compulsory acquisition under Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act.
Mburu had claimed ownership of the 13.77-acre land, the government paying him Sh1.5 billion in down payment for the parcel where two public schools stand.
NLC moved to court last year to determine the validity of the title of the said land and whether the two schools – Ruaraka High School and Drive Inn Primary School – sit on private land.
In their ruling on Friday, the three judges said NLC did not follow elaborate steps as stipulated in Lands Act.
Two companies belonging to Muburu – Afrison Export Import Limited and Huelands Limited – had filed claim with NLC over the compulsory acquisition of the land without compensation.
The judges noted that no explanation was given by the by the two companies why they did not pursue compensation for the land in the 1980’s when the schools were established.
“The compensation claim giving rise to the reference only emerged in 2016 as a historical injustice claim by the two interested parties. In our view the schools have been on the land for the past 30 years without any contestation,” noted Justice Obaga.
The judges noted that two searches conducted in 2018 and 1991 were contradictory an indication the land records can be manipulated.
NLC had claimed it searched through the Ministry of Land records and found that the Ruaraka land belonged to Mburu.
The judges however ruled that the commission ought to have gone further as a search is not a conclusive evidence of ownership.
They further noted the evidence on record shows that the government made double payments and the relevant land register still bears the names of the two companies as the registered proprietors of the parcel.
The judges noted that NLC should have carried out due diligence as that is what the law requires of it.
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