State face class action suit over disputed South B land

Nairobi’s South B residents have been allowed to join a class action suit where a State agency is seeking evict them from a controversial 243 acre piece of land.

A firm locked in an ownership fight with State-owned Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (Kevevapi) has been granted permission by the courts to invite other interested parties to the suit. 

The firm had in May started demolition of houses in the contested land, which was fraudulently acquired in the mid-1990s, subdivided and systematically allocated at throw away prices during the Moi era.

Grabbers had left Kevevapi with only 72 acres of land from its 243-acre parcel and current owners acquired the government property from former powerful politicians and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

“Take further notice that pursuant to an order issued by the High Court on October 17, 2014, all purchasers and/or title holders in Diamond Park Estate Phase I and II have been granted leave to participate in these proceedings as interested parties, whether individually or collectively,” said the notice by Wetang’ula, Adan, Makokha & Co. Advocates.

READ: State offers to sell South B dispute land

The high-stakes case could potentially see the residents of Diamond Park, which is selling home units at Sh25 million, the 15,000-seater Winners Chapel auditorium and two other residential estates, Banque Villa and Executive Housing lose property worth billions.

The Kevevapi is challenging the legality of the titles and is seeking to have the more than 1,000 titles cancelled and the holders evicted.

But the respondents, Regnol and Diamond Park Housing Company Ltd have argued that most of those affected are third party purchasers and the State agency should target those who originally sold the land.

The State firm moved to court as the National Land Commission recommended that investors who built homes on a disputed South B land be offered titles, saving the demolition of property worth billions of shillings. “Regularise existing titles…,’’ it said.