County accuses church of grabbing land in Karen
The Nairobi City county is accusing the Presbyterian Church of East Africa of grabbing land in Karen to construct a church.
In an internal memo, the Nairobi City Council Investigations and Information analysis office says the disputed land was acquired by the church illegally.
“This office is investigating a case of illegal allocation of Nairobi City County Karen Health Centre land to the PCEA Church, preliminary investigations indicated that PCEA Church has subdivided the plot and are busy with constructions,” said Mr Geoffrey Irungu in the memo.
He says the land which PCEA is claiming ownership to belongs to the Karen Health Centre.
He needs clarification from City Planning office of whether the constructions were approved or not as the status concerning ownership of the same.
However, the PCEA church maintains that it acquired the land legally and has all the supporting documents.
“We have all the documents including titles deeds and we can table them right away,” said PCEA Moderator David Gathanju.
The battle for the plot dates back over ten years. Construction was halted last week when a bulldozer pulled down structures the church had put up on the plot.
That was the second time structures built by the church were being demolished this year.
“The matter was in court for seven years. The ruling was finally done and it favoured us,” said the moderator.