The former Lands Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri has been summoned by court over the Ksh183 million owed to evicted residents of Kilifi.
In 2017, Muraguri was served with orders requiring him to pay the money but failed to do so but in January 2020, the ministry paid the complainants Sh100 million, leaving a balance of Sh183 million.
The Environment and Land Court sitting in Malindi ordered Muraguri to appear before it to explain why he failed to pay the money.
Through John Njogu, the ministry said that the availability of funds for payment is not dependent on the ministry.
“..and in any event, Muraguri is not a party to the case and is therefore not liable to be pursued for contempt,” Njogu said.
Njogu submitted that it is the advocate who received the funds and chose how to settle the claims and that the ministry was not involved in any way in the distribution of the funds.
“The allegations of corruption are misplaced and a fabrication created by the applicants’ advocate as no official from the Ministry of Lands has demanded or been paid any ex-gratia payments in relation to the settlement of the dispute herein,” he said.
The summons was issued by Justice James Olola after four landowners; Mariam Mueni, J. N. Mwivithi, Timothy Muchina Chege and Rose Kavita sued the PS, the Commissioner of Lands, the Kilifi Lands Registrar, the Attorney-General, Wilson Gachanja, Alfred Cherwon and James Raymond.
The ministry was accused of corruptions by contenders which had led to a deduction of Sh5.9 million from the Sh23.7 million that had been released to them.
They told the court the money had been retained by a law firm allegedly as a facilitation fee for unnamed officers in the Lands Ministry.
The court was informed that the payments were made solely through the law firm.
Contrary to a consent agreement that required the payment be made to a joint account with two other law firms, the payment were made through Susan Kahoya and Company Advocates.
A judgment issued in 2015 required the government to pay the claimants more than Sh187 million as compensation for irregular cancellation of their title deeds.
The ministry further argued that the amounts owed to the landowners were huge and would require budgeting and approval by the National Assembly.
The case was filed against the ministry in 1997 in Nairobi, before being transferred to Malindi in 2008.
This was after the government cancelled and recalled the title deeds that had been issued to the complainants.