Church fails to stop excision of land for breach of contract

The court has ordered the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri to effect the transfer of 11 acres of land for breach of contractual agreement with a farmer who died 17 years ago.

Nyeri Principal Magistrate Mathia Okuche directed the church to undertake the transfer of the land No LR 9464/1 to Peter Kamau Mwangi and other beneficiaries on behalf of their deceased patriarch Joseph Mwangi.

Okuche told the church to pay Sh540,000 to Kamau's brother Angelus Maina, who had sued as an interested party. The court found he had undertaken the subdivision of the land that was to be swapped with his father's and was owed fees by the church.

The court ordered the deputy registrar of the court to empower and authorise transfer documents, among them an application for consent to the land control board to facilitate the process.

Okuche said evidence on record was that in 1969, the archdiocese and the plaintiff's deceased father had agreed to swap their parcels of land. The deceased fulfilled his part of the bargain by transferring his land titled Nyeri/Mweiga 191 to the church which immediately built a school on the plot.

The church which was to give him 11 acres at Kamwenja LR 9464/1 failed to keep its part of the bargain. “The term of contract between these two parties can therefore be implied from their conduct since 1969 and this court find there was a contractual agreement between them,” Okuche added.