Inside the two decades old deadly battle for 63 acres land in Nakuru that has claimed more than ten lives
Ms Alice Wambui holding a potrait photo of his late husband Geoffrey Njogu Kigotho who was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in 2016 outside his home at the Nakuru Workers Cooperative Society in Pipeline estate.
Situated on the border of Nakuru East and Gilgil sub-counties, Pipeline Estate is an upmarket suburb on the outskirts of Nakuru town, strategically located on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway and bordering Lake Nakuru National Park to the west.
But within this ideal residential area lies a controversial 63-acre plot whose deadly ownership dispute has severely tarnished the reputation of the county's fastest growing estate and most sought-after suburb.
The tragic events surrounding the dispute between members of the Nakuru Workers Cooperative Society and estate agent Thuo Commercial Agency have left a sour taste in the mouths of residents.
The protracted property dispute, which has dragged on for more than two decades, has resulted in bloodshed and trauma for residents and the entire real estate fraternity.
At least 10 people, including officials and members, have been killed in separate incidents in the course of the legal battle that has made the estate volatile.
The bone of contention is Sh600,000 the society allegedly owes the agent for payment of the 63 acres, following a 1990 agreement between the two to sell the property for Sh2.6 million.
While the agent claims the society breached the sale agreement, the society accuses the agent of frustrating fulfilment of the terms by declining to receive the balance and wanting to evict them.
And now any sight of a visitor to the estate immediately draws the attention of the members. Walking along the paths into the estate, you can feel the tension in the whole place as the residents treat you with suspicion.
The land is divided into 50 by 100 feet plots, and it is assumed that most of the residents own a portion of each, which they have developed into homes.
Often the roads are deserted as it is the norm for the residents to lock themselves inside their compounds.
It is mid-afternoon and the sun is beating down on our heads.
We meet Ms Alice Wambui, a 63-year-old widow who claims to have borne the brunt of the dispute.
A former Nakuru County Government employee, she welcomes us into her three-bedroom house on a 50 x 100 feet plot of land.
Inside her house, we find her young grandson lying on the sofa watching TV. We learn that the grandson has been in an accident and has broken his leg.
On the other seat sits her granddaughter, who has been helping her around the house.
On the wall is a framed portrait of an elderly man facing the entrance. The man in the frame, we come to understand, was the family patriarch, Geoffrey Njogu Kigotho, who is now deceased.
Njogu's death is said to have been a case of mistaken identity
The homestead belonging to Mr Wellington Oduor- the former treasurer of the Nakuru Workers Cooperative Society who was sprayed with 13 bullets and killed outside the home as returned from work in 2016.
when he was shot.
He is one of more than a dozen people killed in the deadly dispute over the land adjoining the Kenya Airports Authority property.
He died on the spot on the evening of November 18, 2016 after being shot by attackers who were on a motorcycle.
On that fateful day, the widow recalled how her day began in the morning.
"We woke up as usual at 4am to prepare for work before he accompanied me to the bus stop at 5am. I was supposed to be at work by 6am and since it was dark, he had to accompany me first so that he could go back to prepare himself," said MsWambui.
Mr Peter Ndung'u the chairman of the troubled Nakuru Workers Cooperative society. PHOTO/JOSEPH OPENDA
On the way, the couple discussed their plans for the following day, when they were to attend their grandson's initiation ceremony at Greensteds Estate in Gilgil.
The plan was for the two grandchildren they were staying with to go to Greensteds in the evening and for them to join them the following morning.
After work, she returned home at 4pm and, as expected, the grandchildren had already left. Her husband was a businessman who owned a flour mill and shop in Langalanga Estate in Nakuru Town West, their original home before they moved to their current house in 2012.
He would spend the day there and return in the evening.
At seven in the evening, she was in the kitchen when she heard a loud bang that she thought was a gunshot. Worried, she wanted to call her husband to find out where he was. But she had no air time.
After a few minutes she heard similar multiple bangs from another direction, followed by the sound of an accelerating motorbike. She became increasingly worried.
"While I was still wondering what to do, I heard an alarm from the gate and was relieved to think that my husband had arrived. But it was my neighbour's son who said his mother wanted to see me urgently," Ms Wambui recalls.
Confused and with so much on her mind, she simply pulled the gate over and decided to go. But before she got to the neighbour's house, she noticed a huge crowd on the road, some shouting and others cursing.
When some of the women approached her to comfort her, her fears were confirmed. It was her husband, lying dead in a pool of blood. A gunshot to the chest had killed him instantly.
But he had not told her that his life was in danger, and all she could think was why someone would choose to kill him in such a cruel way.
"He was a loving husband and a responsible father to my six children. He made peace with everyone and I could not imagine that he had wronged anyone so much that they would take his life," said Ms Wambui.
Njogu had bought the land in 2006 from his long-time friend who worked in the military. The soldier, who has since died, was in financial trouble and needed money to pay for his children's education.
"My husband shared the idea with me and asked me to go with him to look at the land and we saw that it was prime, so we agreed to buy it. We started developing it in 2011 when we felt that our children had grown up enough to live in our house in Mwariki, so we decided to move to our new house here," said Ms Wambui.
The land did not have a title deed and the friend convinced them to buy it because no one in the settlement had one.
They were informed of an ongoing court case and were assured that their titles would be processed.
But barely a year into moving in, a neighbour, Collins Ochieng, an original member of the cooperative, was found dead in a forest after he had been missing for days.
Ochieng was a treasurer of the society, and pushed for the case to be resolved quickly and for members to receive their titles.
Three years later, another member, Tom Teuri Githiga, was shot dead by an unknown assailant in a death linked to the dispute.
He was lured outside his home by a caller before being shot dead by gunmen on a motorbike.
And then, in 2016, Ms Wambui's husband, Geoffrey Njogu, was killed in a similar way.
But Njogu was not the target. He became collateral damage after he was found with the target, Mr Wellington Oduor, who was the secretary of the association at the time.
A survivor of the ambush, Martin Gicharu, then a secondary school student and now a university student, explained that he was walking alongside the two men, Njogu and Oduor, who were returning home after getting off a matatu. A motorbike with two riders overtook them and waited in front of them.
When Njogu was shot from the front, the two had scampered for safety and unfortunately, the shooters caught up with Oduor as he tried to climb over the fence into his compound.
The attackers pumped 13 bullets into him, killing him.
The bodies were taken to the mortuary by the police who arrived on the scene and promised to investigate.
But before the police could unravel the mystery surrounding the deaths of Ms Wambui's husband and Oduor, two more people were killed the following year.
In June 2017, David Gitau, 46, the company secretary, and member Beth Wachie were shot multiple times by unknown assailants.
The series of murders led to a public outcry after residents held demonstrations to protest the killings and what they described as police negligence.
The police, however, could do little to help the situation as they were tied up with a court case and accusations of conflict of interest.
It had become clear that the society's officials were the main targets of the brutal killings.
Other members whose deaths have been linked to the dispute include Mr Paul Njogu.
Fearing for their lives, some officials went into hiding, while others disappeared and have never been found.
The officials were key to taking the case to court, so their disappearance and murder jeopardised the continuation of the case.
The case at the Environment and Lands Court in Nakuru, number ELC 558 of 2013, had stalled because there was no one to pursue it.
This was until a new group of members took courage and decided to take over as acting officials to pursue the case.
The group includes Mr Peter Ndungu as chairperson, Pastor John Mwangi as secretary, Ms Peris Waithera as treasurer, Elizabeth John as deputy chairperson and members Joseph Mwangi and Ole Tipis.
In the case, which was revived in 2017, estate agent John Thuo has sued the 444 members of the society for what he claims is trespassing.
While the agent admits that he entered into a sale agreement with the society in 1990 for the sale of 63 acres of land for Sh2.6 million, he argues that the society breached the contract after failing to pay all the money on time.
In his testimony on February 12, 2022, Mr Maina Ndua, who took over from his late father David Thuo as director of Thuo Commercial Agencies, claimed that the society had not paid the full amount to the company, thereby breaching the agreement.
However, he admitted that part of the money was paid to the company after the company produced letters in court to prove the payment. This included a letter dated May 2, 1990 in which his father admitted receiving a cheque for Sh500,000.
Another letter dated May 2, 1990 indicates that payments other than Sh500,000 were made through the firm of SL Muhia, who was acting as the parties' lawyer.
A letter dated May 9, 1990 indicates that the lawyer was instructed to pay Sh600,0000 to the agent as payment for the land.
While Mr Ndua claims that the surveyor released the title plan to the wrong parties causing many problems, a letter dated August 30, 1996 confirms that his father wrote to the Commissioner of Lands to give final approval for the subdivision of the land.
The Commissioner of Lands granted conditional approval for the subdivision on August 30, 1996.
After he closed his case in February 2022, the court fixed the hearing of the defence case for January 2023, but the agent filed an application claiming that the land had been placed under caveat by the Kenya Airports Authority, a case that was still pending in court.
However, Justice Antony Obwayo ruled that the KAA case had nothing to do with the current case and that KAA had not placed a caveat on the 63-acre land.
He ordered that the case be heard on September 19, 20 and 21.
While the case is pending in court, the new officials are also facing frustrations in the office, including a revolt by some members who suspect they are being used by their rivals as well as grabbers who want to take advantage of the dispute to encroach on the property.
Threats to life have also been reported after some officials complained of being followed by unknown persons.
Mr Peter Ndungu, the chairman of the society, also said it had been a challenge to get records after their predecessors disappeared with the records.
"We had to start from scratch and gather the necessary documents to prove our case in court," said Mr Ndungu.
Despite the challenges, the officials remain determined to see the case resolved.
Secretary Pastor John Mwangi is confident that justice will finally be served.
"What we want is for the case to be resolved and for our members to get their titles so that they can do business freely on their land. We know that there is a balance that the members are willing to pay," said Mr Mwangi.
He revealed that powerful people, including senior figures in government and the civil service, want part of the land.
"It's important that this case comes to a final conclusion so that everyone can live in peace, otherwise the continued threat puts everyone's lives in danger, including ours," said Pastor Mwangi.
And while all this is happening, ownership of the various plots is changing hands as some members, out of fear, sell their shares to others who are unaware of the case.
At least one person has been charged in connection with the killings.
Mr Elias Mayaka Onsarigo, a police officer who allegedly owned a plot of land identified as kiambogo/kiambogo/block2/20816, has been charged with the death of David Gitau.
Ms Wambui now regrets ever moving to the area, which she says has left her a widow at an early age.
"It is difficult for me to make decisions for the family alone. If he were still alive, things would be different," said Ms Wambui.
Oduor's wife, on the other hand, died six years after his death.
"She died last year after a short illness, but her health was obviously not good after her husband's death," said Mr Ndungu.
The couple’s daughter moved out of the house out of fear, to her rural home in Kisumu and rented out the house.
Others in the estate have also rented out their houses and left.
