Judge kicks Church out of contested land
Worshippers at a Kenya Assemblies of God church off Mombasa road will have to look for alternative venue within the next 60 days after a court ruled that they vacate from the land.
Ms Lady Justice Pauline Nyamweya said she will issue eviction orders should the trustees of the church fail to heed the directive.
The county government and the trustees were also restrained from trespassing or interfering in any way with the plaintiffs’ possession of the piece of land along Kabithi road off Mombasa road, pending the hearing and determination of the case or until further orders.
Mr Suresh Kumar Safat and Sadina Sofat had sued the trustees and the county government, claiming they are registered owners of the piece of land where the church is located.
The plaintiffs in their application stated that they are the registered owners of the property for a term of 99 years with effect from July 1 1998.
They further claimed that they did not develop the land for lack of funds and in the year 2005 proceeded to the United Kingdom.
According to the suit papers, they came back to the country in December 2012 with the intention of developing the land and on visiting discovered some people had occupied it.
The trustees of the church opposed the application through a replying affidavit sworn by Reverend Fredrick M. Kibuga, the church minister in charge of the church erected on the land.
Mr Kibuga stated that the Trustees applied to the Commissioner of Lands requesting to be allocated a plot on which to build church offices and that after various correspondences they were allocated the land then unsurveyed on November 3 1988.
He also stated that the allegations by the plaintiffs that they erected a fence over the suit property but did not develop are not true , since the trustees have been in occupation of the land since 1988.
The county government, which also opposed the application through a replying affidavit of its director of physical planning Ms Rose Muema, said it is mandated to regulate and licence all development projects within its jurisdiction.
“ I find that the plaintiffs have established a prima facie case as they have a title issued with respect to the suit property to a third party, the defendant’s letter of allotment on the other hand is with respect to an unidentified property,” said the judge.
The court further ruled that the Trustees still have the opportunity to ventilate any claims of ownership to the land at the full hearing of the suit.