Chief disputes letter in land row, accuses assistant of forgery in court testimony

Ngata location chief has disputed claims he instructed one of his assistants to write a letter on his behalf touching on a disputed parcel of land under their jurisdiction.

Augustine Rotich who testified in court before Environment and Lands Court Judge Anthony Ombwayo termed a letter by his assistant Charles Koech as a forgery.

Rotich testified in a case where Omar Mohamed Omar and Patrick Maina Wakanda sued Joshua Kulei, Chief Land Registrar, Attorney General, and Sian Enterprises Ltd over land ownership.

Omar and Wakanda claim Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) allotted them 20.24 hectares of land following an application and upon compliance with the conditions contained in the letter of offer. Omar who appeared in court in July told the court that he first applied for land on October 8, 1995, together with his age mate Wakanda, at the age of about 21, and was issued with the title deed in 1996.

Kulei said he acquired the land from former CS the late Joseph Nkaiserry. He said he realised that he had been dispossessed of the land on January 19 when a fence around it was removed and a temporary house constructed.

Kulei said ADC transferred the property to Nkaiserry on January 21, 1991, and registered on January 22, 1991, for consideration of Sh60,015 .63. Nkaiserry was issued with a certificate of title dated February 22, 1991.

In March 1998, Sian agreed to buy the property for Sh5.5 million, which was paid in two installments on March 23, 1998, and July 23, 1998.

The chief told the court that he has two assistant Chiefs- Lucia Akai (Ngata sub-location) and Koech (Kirobon sun-location). Rotich told the court that he has known Kulei for over a decade and knows the parcels of land he owns and that he doesn’t know Omar.

The chief in his statement said on January 11, 2024, he received information that there was an ongoing dispute on land parcel No 13287/99, and on January 12, 2024, he received instructions from the area Deputy County Commissioner to write a report on the status of the property.

He said on January 12, 2024, he wrote to the County Commissioner through the Assistant County Commissioner informing that the initial allottee was the late Joseph Nkaiserry who acquired from ADC and that the land has been in possession of Kulei.

He stated that the letter he wrote in January 2024 was the only one.

“I have been shown the letter dated September 4, 2023, allegedly written, signed, and stamped by myself. I wish to state that this is a forgery as I never wrote any such letter,” he stated.

He added: “Particularly the signature appended is not mine and the official stamp is manifestly different from mine.”

He stated that he has supplied a letter bearing his name, signature, and stamp to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for comparison. Sian Enterprises Limited, through Joshua Kulei, he added has been in possession of the suit property since he took over from Daniel Kandie.

Asked whether he was on leave at the time his assistant wrote the letter, Rotich disputed.

“I didn’t authorise Koech to sign the letter. I was not on leave, so he lied,” he said.

Earlier, in July when Assistant Chief Koech appeared in court, he said that Omar and Wakanda are the owners and occupants of the suit property.

Koech further confirmed to the court that he wrote, signed, and stamped the letter dated September 4, 2023, and that its contents were correct. He said he wrote the letter on behalf of the area chief, Ngata Location. He stated that the letter is not and cannot be forgery as an assistant chief is duly authorized to write on his behalf.