Kenya Railways Corporation and the National Land Commission (NLC) have been ordered to pay a private firm, Dopp Investments Limited, Sh667.9 million as compensation for the compulsory acquisition of its 13.3 hectares of land for the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR).
Justice Nelly Matheka of the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa ruled that Dopp Investments Limited had presented evidence, corroborated by Kenya Railways, NLC, and the Chief Land Registrar, of how it acquired the ownership of the land located in Bonje, Kwale County.
She said that it was clear to the court that Dopp Investment Limited bought the land from Mukinye Enterprises Limited in 1991 and paid stamp duty before becoming the registered owner in August 1991.
“It is clear to the court that the plaintiff is the first in time and his title ought to prevail,” ruled Justice Matheka.
The judge also said that Kahia Transporters Ltd, which also claimed the land, could not explain why the letter of allotment dated May 30, 1994, bore the name of its director when it claimed to have bought the land.
She further noted that Kahia Transporters neither called the person who sold it the land nor the surveyor who surveyed the land to adduce evidence in support of its case.
According to the court, there was no valuation report produced to support the claim of Sh1 billion as compensation as pleaded in the counterclaim by Kahia Transporters, which was an interested party in the case.
Justice Matheka also noted that during cross-examination, Kahia Transporters Ltd, through its director, was at pains to explain why he did not produce the letter of allotment to support its claim to the land.
“The court has no reason to believe the evidence adduced by the first interested party (Kahia Transporters Ltd) as to how it acquired the certificate of title,” ruled Justice Matheka.
Some four residents had also claimed that the parcel of land was part of their ancestral communal land and that the acquisition by the plaintiffs was unlawful and illegal.
However, the court ruled that there was no evidence to support their claim that the land was trust land or that it had never been adjudicated.
“There is no evidence of the occupation on the land and the court is also aware that they had advanced a claim for adverse possession but later withdrew it,” ruled the court.
Dopp Investments Ltd through its director Hashid Patel, told the court that the land was acquired for SGR in 2015 and that it was involved in the acquisition process.
He said the process culminated in an award of Sh667 million from the NLC, but that Dopp never received any payment.
Kahia Transporters Ltd and Trade Lead Ltd, through its director Osman Ahmed Kahia, told the court that it bought the parcel of land after conducting due diligence and obtained the title in 2018.
He claimed that when the government gazetted the land for SGR, his land was not in the gazette notice and that he went to the NLC but got no response.
