Babu Owino defends squatters on Kirima land, vows to take case to Supreme Court
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has said he will appeal to the Supreme Court against the Environment and Land Court’s ruling on 1000 acres of land in Njiru, Nairobi.
Addressing the press at the Parliament buildings on Tuesday, the legislator challenged the decision by Justice Samson Okong’o to declare the family of former Starehe MP Gerishon Kirima as the rightful owners of the disputed land.
The court also gave the squatters occupying the land until 31 December to hand over possession of the property to Kirima’s family and vacate, failing which they will be evicted.
According to the lawmaker, Judge Okong’o erred in his ruling, arguing that the residents of Embakasi were the rightful owners because they had reached the legal threshold for land ownership.
He argued that the residents had occupied the land for 12 years and 10 months from the date of Mr Kirima’s death on 10 December 2010, making them “more than qualified to occupy the land by adverse possession”.
“In the judgement delivered yesterday, the judge erred in saying that this land does not belong to Embakasi East. As it stands, we will appeal against this decision. Because this is a matter of public interest, it must go to the Supreme Court and this piece of land must be given to my people through adverse possession, ” Babu said.
The lawmaker explained that there are three ways in which a person can legally acquire ownership of land in Kenya.
“Firstly, a person must occupy the land they want to own and in this case these people have been living on that land. Secondly, a person must have lived on that land for at least 12 years, which means for a period of 2 or more years. These people, who are my people, have even crossed the threshold required to occupy the land and become legal owners by adverse possession,” Babu said.
The third way, the lawmaker explained, is that “the entry into the land must not have been consented to in the first place. At the time of the death of the owner, Mr Kirima, no consent had been given”.
Furthermore, “the land in question should not be public land, and in this case it is private land allegedly belonging to Mr Kirima”.
Other requirements include that “the occupation must be open and notorious” and finally, ‘”there must be knowledge of the occupation and in this case, my people have been and continue to be in occupation with the knowledge of the owner”.
The lawmaker said they would pursue the alternative route of negotiations to ensure that Mr Kirima’s family agrees to negotiate with Embakasi residents.
“If they refuse, through adverse possession, these 1000 plots of land clearly belong to the people of Embakasi East Constituency,” Babu said.
Referring to the recently completed demolitions in Mavoko, Machakos County, the MP accused President William Ruto of allowing demolitions even after launching the Affordable Housing Programme which aim at ensuring that every Kenyan owns a house.
“The President has been so active on the issue of affordable housing and that he wants every Kenyan citizen to have a house and that has been moved and practically the construction of the said houses has started. Why then should we as a government be encouraging the demolition of houses as we have seen recently in Mavoko,” he said.
On Monday, Mr Kirima’s family scored a major victory in a land dispute that has been in court for over two decades, since 2003, between the family and squatters.
Three groups of squatters claimed to be the legal owners of the 1,000-acre parcel of land by adverse possession, arguing that they had occupied it continuously for 12 years.
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