Security firm goes to court, protests eviction from land

Esteem Energy's director, Hassan Ibrahim, said the 'intruders' caused substantial damage to property. [iStockphoto]

After being evicted from its offices in Nairobi's South B estate, a security firm has gone to court.

The directors of Eveready Security Guards Limited say the documents used to convince the court to grant the eviction order, which was never served on them in the first place, were not authentic.

According to Lucy Gathoni, the firm's director, the purported title deed Esteem Energy Limited is using to claim the land is a forged document.

In court papers filed by Kamau Kuria & Company, Gathoni says Esteem misled the court to get the eviction order.

The order barring Eveready from interfering or trespassing on the contested land was issued on July 26 by principal magistrate Edgar Kagoni.

The security firm says it was never served with the eviction order until September 5 when staff saw a group of people escorted by officers from the Industrial Area Police Station ordering them to leave.

Gathoni said she acquired the property on September 22, 1997.

In seeking the eviction order through a law firm, Ashioya Mogire & Nkatha Advocates, Esteem said Eveready was a stranger on its land.

In the court papers, Esteem says Eveready encroached on the land on July 4 and went ahead to claim the property.

Esteem Energy's director, Hassan Ibrahim, said the 'intruders' caused substantial damage to property.

Further, despite making a formal complaint to Eveready to vacate the land, Ibrahim says the security firm refused to leave.

"The defendant has no known claim or interest over the property and the plaintiff has not granted him any right of way, license or authority to occupy; I believe the defendant is an unlawful occupier of private land," Ibrahim told the court.

But Eveready disputes Esteem's ownership claim, saying the former lied to the court and that its land is LR number 209/5924 and not 209/22665 as claimed.

Further, according to Eveready, it is clear from the suit papers filed by Esteem that the land in dispute is registered in the name of a person identified as Ibrahim Abey and not Hassan Ibrahim.