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By VINCENT MABATUK and PAMELA CHEPKEMEI
Nakuru, Kenya: Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has asked the High Court in Nakuru to strike out her name in a case challenging her ownership of two prime plots in Nakuru.
Through her lawyer William Kabaiku, Mama Ngina faulted the suit filed against her by a retired doctor, Isaac Kirubi.
She said the petitioner had failed to state reasons why he was suing her instead of pursuing the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Lands who according to her are the custodians of private and public properties.
However, in an affidavit filed in court, Dr Kirubi claims the plots were forcibly transferred to Mama Ngina on May 7, 1974 by then Commissioner of Lands, James Aloysius O’Loughlin.
But Mama Ngina said Kirubi has failed to prove that he once owned the two plots. Kirubi filed a constitutional petition in 2010 alleging that Mama Ngina had infringed on his rights to own property.
The retired doctor alleges that the land was forcefully taken from him in a conspiracy between the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the then land commissioner, O’Loughlin.
“It is on these grounds that we appealed to this court not to allow the application. Titles issued to Mama Ngina should be cancelled because they were illegally acquired,” he told Judge Anyara Emukule.
Fighting for his case through lawyer Isaac Wameesa, the doctor described title deeds issued to Mama Ngina as unique and asked the court to take the matter seriously.
Kirubi wants the High Court to nullify the acquisition and revert the land to him. He claims that Mzee, Mama Ngina and O’Loughlin violated his rights to protection from deprivation of property.
Land acquisition
Meanwhile, a judge has disqualified himself from a case filed by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s relative challenging a report linking him to illegal land acquisition.
High Court Judge, George Odunga will not determine the case filed by Ngengi Muigai, a nephew of founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
Jsutice Odunga allowed an application by Ngengi asking him to stop handling a case he lodged against the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). Ngengi’s lawyer, Jennifer Shamalla argued that Judge Odunga had handled a similar matter and ruled against the applicants. He was, therefore likely to be biased in the final decision.
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