Swazuri team wades into land row between Westlands residents and Fidelity Bank

The National Land Commission (NLC) claims that a piece of land at the centre of a fight between Fidelity Commercial Bank (FCB) and residents of Muguga Green Apartments in Westlands is public property.

The NLC says in court filings that it conducted investigations which revealed that the land the lender is laying claim to was allocated to the residents as a playground for children.

Fidelity has filed a suit seeking to stop the NLC from determining a dispute Muguga Green’s residents filed against the lender over the property, arguing that the public land administrator is biased.

The lender says the NLC Tribunal has made partisan comments against it in previous hearings and did not allow its lawyer to argue out its case.

Fidelity has also protested the NLC’s decision to inform the court that investigations conducted revealed that the land was public property.

But the NLC has defended the investigations on the land, arguing that it is part of procedure whenever a complaint is filed.

“The commission as a matter of procedure and pursuant to its mandate always conducts preliminary investigations internally to verify the authenticity of the allegations,” the NLC says.

“The commission conducted its own investigations and established that indeed the property was allocated as public land that was meant to be a playground for children and the children had indeed suffered for a long time without a playground.”

The lender wants the NLC tribunal compelled to produce a copy of the proceedings before it in court so that Justice David Odunga of the High Court’s Judicial Review division can determine whether the hearings have been fair to both parties.

But the NLC says stopping the hearing will interfere with its authority guaranteed in the Constitution.

The bank says it purchased the land through a takeover of the previous owner —Emtol Properties— which the lender insists had been paying land rates to City Hall prior to the sale. Justice Odunga will rule on the matter on November 7.

The lender also insists that the issues before the NLC are also subject of a suit before the Environment and Land Court between it and Muguga Green Apartments that has been ongoing since 2007.

In the matter before the Land Court, Muguga Green has asked the court to rule that FCB obtained the title deed for the disputed land fraudulently.
The apartment’s management has also enjoined Emtol Properties in the case before the Land court.

The residents claim in the Land court that they had used the disputed land as a parking lot and garden until 2001 when Emtol put up a wall around it and claimed ownership.