DP Gachagua embroiled in Sh1.5 billion land tussle in Embakasi
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has opposed a ploy by a civil servant to reinstate a Sh1.5 billion land tussle in Embakasi.
Gachagua told the Environment and Land Court yesterday that the case by John Michael Ohas, a former director of physical planning in the Ministry of Lands, stands withdrawn and plans to bring it back was an abuse of court processes.
Gachagua through lawyer Philip Nyachoti urged the court to dismiss the case and is seeking Sh32 million from Ohas after suing him last year only to withdraw the case in June.
“That an order for reinstatement of a withdrawn suit does not lie in law and in the circumstances the application is fatally and incurably defective and should be dismissed with costs,” Nyachoti said.
Gachagua had sued Ohas after it surfaced that he and his company Columbus Two Thousand Limited had acquired another title deed to the contested land.
Gachagua said that Ohas tampered with records at the Lands registry and obtained a title deed in 2019 for the land that is near Jommo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The court had issued an order barring Ohas from selling or transferring the disputed land, pending the determination of the case.
Gachagua says he bought the land for Sh24 million from Peter Nduati and Pauline Muringe who owned it through Karandi Farm Ltd.
He said that the two were allocated the land in 1999 for a sum of Sh554,000.
However, Ohas had claimed that he was allocated the plot in 1994 by former late President Daniel Arap Moi.
Gachagua is seeking a revocation of the second title deed, claiming it was obtained fraudulently.
