Commission embarks on land compensation for colonial Chief

Nyeri, Tuesday, July 4, 2023

KNA by Wangari Mwangi

The National Lands Commission has officially kicked off the process of compensating the family of Colonial era Chief Wambugu Mathangani the Sh 230 million awarded by the Lands and Environment court in Nyeri for wrongfully dispossessing them of a 54.55 hectare parcel of land.

Both the NLC commissioners and the Wambugu family spent the better part of Monday at Wambugu Farm discussing the modalities of how the family is set to receive Sh 230 million principal compensation and the interest which has accrued since the courts first issued its ruling 16 years ago.

According to the Esther Murugi, an NLC Commissioner, the commission was engaging the Ministry of Lands to establish the whereabouts of the Sh 145 million that was deposited in the Nyeri Lands and Environment court in 2007 as compensation for compulsory acquisition of the land which hosts the Wambugu Farmers Agricultural Training Centre, the Central Region Kenya Meteorological Station and the Kenya School of Agriculture.

Murugi also noted that since due process was not followed during the acquisition, the larger Wambugu family was not conversant with their obligation during the compensation process.  

“There was no participation on the family when the acquisition was done. The court has already decreed that there are 35 families so today we taking the family through the compensation process which they must go through before they are paid. We are also here to assure them that the money will be paid by the NLC and not by any individual and to also confirm to them that the money is not here today, it is something that we are going to look for,” said Murugi.

The 54.55 hectare parcel was initially owned by Chief Mathangani. Before the protracted court battles began in 2007, it is said that Mathangani had leased about 200 acres of his over 3,500 acres of land to the defunct Nyeri County Council in 1957 as an agricultural demonstration farm for the region.

Upon the expiry of the lease, the Ministry of Agriculture in 2006 approached the family with intentions of buying the land. Court records show that the ministry committed to buy 134 acres and it was to relinquish the remaining undeveloped parcel of land to the family.

The bone of contention for both the NLC and the family has been the amount to be awarded as compensation. According to the family, an independent valuer estimated the land would cost about Sh420 million but the government invoked the law on compulsory acquisition and settled for Sh145.6 million as compensation setting off of a prolonged court battle pitting the family and the lands ministry as the State could not explain how it had arrived at Sh 145 million.

An inquiry held in 2007 ascertained that the property had 35 beneficiaries who were found eligible to receive compensation of Sh 145.6 million for compulsory acquisition. But in an application filed by the chairman of the family trustee Ephraim Wambugu, beneficiaries contested the decision by the Commissioner of Lands to award them Sh 145 million as compensation for the land and the infrastructure developments therein.

Similarly the Lands court in 2022 had ordered the lands ministry to surrender a title deed for the 54.55-hectare piece of land after the court established that it had been illegally acquired. In his ruling, Justice James Olola said the court would retain the title deed until the beneficiaries had been fully compensated. Justice Olola also noted that the certificate of title acquired by the government was obtained contrary to the law. 

While making his final determination in April, Justice Olola ruled that the NLC pay the family Sh 200 million as compensation for the land and an additional Sh 30 million as compensation for the buildings and improvements.

“The courts have given two judgments, one in May 2022 directing that the title deed for Wambugu farm be returned, of course that did not happen. The second judgment indicated that the government must pay the Wambugu family an equivalent of Sh 230 million which comprises the land and the improvements on the land plus the interest accrued since 2007,”stated Murugi.

Charles Mathangani, the chairman of the Wambugu Family said: “We are happy because we are now certain that we will receive the money owed to us. As a family, we would like the first tranche from the 2007 ruling to be released first as we wait for the other money awarded by the court in April.”  

Courtesy ; K. N. A