A judge Wednesday ordered Greenhills Investment Ltd, the owners of Village Market and Tribe Hotel in Nairobi’s Gigiri not to interfere with the dispute property pending the hearing of a petition filed by the Koinange family which is claiming the land.
Justice Oscar Angote of the Land and Environment Court said the status prevailing should be maintained, meaning that the owners cannot do any dealings with the property pending the hearing of the case.
Administrators of the estate of former provincial commissioner —Charles Karuga Koinange — are claiming that the popular high-end market and the hotel have been built on part of the family’s land.
The court at the same time joined the Chief Land Registrar and the Attorney General in the case, following an application by Greenhills Investment.
The firm says it bought the property after conducting searches and the register from the ministry, making them a necessary party in the case.
Greenhills Investment says it is a bona fide purchaser of the property and erected the properties and has never been aware of the family’s interest in the land.
“I can unequivocally confirm that in all its dealings with Nairobi/Block91/132, the 1st defendant (Greenhills) has at all times relied on the register and the searches issued by the proposed 3rd defendant,” Mr Sanjay Shah, an official Greenhills said.
The judge directed Koinange’s family lawyer Ashford Mugwuku to serve the Attorney General with the court documents ahead of the hearing on January 23, 2023.
The Koinanges want the court to order the eviction of Village Market and Tribe Hotel, claiming that the land belongs to them.
They claim the owners of the Village Market and Tribe Hotel must have acquired the title to the land fraudulently and should, therefore, be evicted and made to pay them damages for illegal occupation or compensation at the current market rates.
The Koinange family further wants the Sh8.5 billion loan that Greenhills tapped from KCB Group to develop Village Market to be declared invalid.
“In the alternative, full compensation to the plaintiff at market value or current valuation of the suit property,” the family says in the petition.
Mr Koinange died in 2004, leaving behind a multi-billion shilling estate consisting of land, shares in various companies, money in bank accounts, and other investments estimated to be worth more than Sh15 billion.
His polygamous family had been tussling over the distribution of the property and came to a settlement two years ago, after picking a mediator to shepherd sharing of the estate.
Mr Mugwuku says the property has been listed for distribution to the beneficiaries but the process cannot be undertaken because of illegal transactions, including the charge of the property at KCB.
