At least 3,000 families in Bamburi, Mombasa County, face eviction after losing a land ownership court case to a private developer.
The ruling by the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa allowing the eviction of the squatters could see residential houses, churches and mosques demolished and families left homeless.
Most of the affected residents had in 2008 unknowingly purchased plots on the 12-acre tract from conmen claiming to own it. They then built homes, shops and places of worship.
But Justice Sila Munyao has slapped them with a three-month eviction notice after finding that they could not explain when they entered the property and why they deserve to be declared its owners by way of adverse possession.
“I have absolutely no evidence touching on the possession of the land by the defendants. In fact, any reference to their possession of the land is very vague and unsubstantiated,” he said.
Justice Munyao also noted that the defendants had failed to provide specific details about when they entered the property.
Court records show that some of the squatters claimed they entered the property in the 1930s and or were born sometime in the 1940s, while others entered in 1990.
“Now, it is not pointed out who entered the plot in 1930, who was born here in the 1940s or who entered the land in 1990,” the judge noted.
Any person claiming adverse possession, the court said, cannot merely state that they have been on the land for more than 12 years and hope that the court is going to speculate in their favour.
The judge, therefore, ordered the defendants to vacate the property within 90 days, failing which the registered owners are at liberty to apply for their eviction.
The squatters were barred from undertaking any developments or improvement of structures on the land during the 90-day period.
In their claim, Amina Shamaweya Mwinyi, who testified on their behalf, said they had built homes on their respective portions of the land and live there with their families.
She claimed that in 1980, the Land Control Board gave the registered owner of the property consent to sell it, on the condition that the squatters be compensated but that was not done.
“We had peaceful possession, occupation, and use of our respective land portions with the knowledge of the plaintiffs, who did not authorise us to enter and occupy the property,” she said.
She said she entered the property in 1993 after she requested unidentified people to give her a portion to live on and cultivate. She said she had never seen the alleged owners on the land.
An affidavit sworn by an Ephraim Baya (now said to be deceased) indicates that he had lived on the property since 1978 with some of the defendants.
Harshit Mulvantari Rawal, who testified on behalf of the late Lalitchandra Pandya said the latter bought the property for Sh210,000 from Miguel Cassio and Hamilton Antao, the previous registered owners.
“But in 2005, the land was invaded by strangers who claimed compensation. We, however, secured the land after engaging security officers,” he said.
The complainant noted that since then, there had been waves of squatter invasions, prompting them to file the court case and have them evicted after previous attempts failed.
The case was filed by Pandya and Pravin Rameshchandra in 2006, and in 2008, about 100 squatters filed another case, seeking a determination on whether they were entitled to be declared owners of the land by way of adverse possession.
