Kenya's Sh100 billion Kiambu land battle returns to court as Mbari ya Mbogo revives ancestral claim
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A decades-old dispute over 933.9 acres near Thindigua in Kiambu County is back before the courts, pitting the Mbari ya Mbogo family's ancestral claim against respondents who say the matter has already been litigated.
A decades-old battle over prime land near Thindigua in Kiambu County has returned to the courts, reopening a dispute that involves ancestral families, co-operative societies, private landowners and religious institutions and that has been the subject of multiple court and administrative proceedings over the years.
The property measures approximately 933.9 acres. In 2023, Parliament described the land as being worth more than Sh100 billion, with commercial and residential developments worth billions of shillings standing on the disputed property, the publication reported.
At the centre of the renewed dispute is the Mbari ya Mbogo family's claim that the land is ancestral property acquired by its forefathers before independence. According to the family's account presented before Parliament, its forefathers acquired the land through barter from the Dorobo community, allegedly involving about 2,000 goats and cattle. The family argues that developments around Kasarini Estate eventually displaced families from land it considers ancestral, and it has framed the case as a historical land injustice involving colonial-era dealings and later transactions.
The dispute centres on land identified through various historical titles, including L.R. Nos. 7153/1, 7153/2 and 7153/R, with L.R. 7153/R also referred to in previous proceedings as L.R. No. 12825. Previous cases have involved the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi Registered Trustees, Ndunde Investments Limited, the National Land Commission, Mbari ya Mbogo, Kasarini Farmers Co-operative Society, Workers of Kasarani Estate, Kasarini Ancestral Families Self-Help Group and several individuals and families.
Among the major cases in the history of the dispute is ELC Civil Case No. 557 of 2009, which concerned L.R. No. 7153/R, later identified with L.R. No. 12825. In 2016, the High Court dealt with Petition No. 373 of 2016 involving several parties connected to the property and, rather than finally determining ownership of the entire disputed property, transferred the matter to the Environment and Land Court, where related proceedings were already pending. The National Land Commission also considered the controversy around Kasarini Estate under its historical land injustice mandate and in 2019 dismissed a claim involving several parties, while acknowledging that court proceedings on the same subject matter were pending.
Respondents have taken a different position. One response attributed to Daniel Mukiri Githegi asks the court to dismiss or strike out the petition, arguing that it is incompetent, time-barred and an abuse of the court process, and raises the alleged abatement of ELC No. 557 of 2009. The respondents argue that the petitioners cannot keep restarting the same ownership controversy through new proceedings whenever earlier cases meet procedural or jurisdictional obstacles.
The court will have to determine whether the current claims can still be heard, whether they are barred by previous proceedings, whether particular causes of action abated, and whether the petition amounts to an abuse of the court process. With nearly 934 acres at stake and an estimated value exceeding Sh100 billion, the outcome could affect numerous individuals and entities with interests accumulated on the land through decades of transactions and development.