At 10.30am on July 30, 2002, the Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd Board met in Naivasha met with one item on its agenda – to dissolve the firm and divide vast land parcels amongst shareholders.
Within 30 minutes, the meeting was over and the Board had resolved that chairperson Kagimbi Mungai would sign the relevant documents to wind up Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd and have it struck off the register of companies operating in Kenya.
The Board resolution was signed on August 6, 2002, making the winding up formal.
But over two decades later, the company is somehow at the centre of a vicious fight for vast land parcels in Ndabibi, Naivasha as individuals holding out as officials lead farm invasions in the area.
The Business Registration Service (BRS) portal searched by the Sunday Nation shows no record of Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd, indicating that the firm may not exist, and was possibly struck off the register.
The Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) owned thousands of acres in the Ndabibi area, but hived off some portions which were sold to members of the public several years ago.
Since then, there have been numerous competing ownership claims, with Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd at the centre of the controversy.
The Ndabibi land is fertile, and rains have been largely reliable, making the area a prime agricultural zone.
In December, 2023 the National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee on Social Services and Agriculture ordered for a special audit on all land held by ADC in the past and present, in a bid to resolve the mess that has on occasion turned violent. ADC land has for years been grabbed or allocated to powerful individuals.
The special audit is to be conducted by the office of Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, and is intended to unravel how thousands of acres were sold to individuals, some of whom were high ranking civil servants in past administrations, mostly when President Daniel Moi was in power.
On Tuesday, Naivasha Principal Magistrate Eunice Kelly dismissed a suit Ndibithi Farmers Company filed alongside Moses Ng’ang’a Murigi, one of the individuals claiming to be an official of the firm.
In the suit, Mr Murigi sued the police and enjoined the area chief, seeking to block security agencies from stopping a series of farm invasions amid competing claims to several land parcels in Ndabibi.
In that case, Mr Murigi and Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd were laying claim to a 343-acre parcel registered to Maboko Shembekho Ltd.
Mr Murigi said in suit papers that police detained his tractor which ploughing a section of the land registered to Maboko Shembekho Ltd.
He insisted that the tractor was ploughing his land when police officers impounded it on grounds that the property is registered to Maboko Shembekho.
Ms Kelly ruled that the Chief Magistrate’s Court does not have authority to preside over the case, as ownership of the contested land was the subject of a suit already determined by the High Court in July, 2023.
Squatters demonstrate at a private farm owned by former permanent secretary's Benjamin Kipkulei in Ndabibi, Naivasha on May 19, 2021.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Maboko Shembekho applied to join the suit. Its director, Joel Kusimba, argued that aside from the High Court judgment, the value of the land is over Sh250 million hence beyond the Chief Magistrate’s jurisdiction.
Under Kenyan law, the Chief Magistrate’s Court only has the authority to determine cases whose value does not exceed Sh20 million.
Ms Kelly agreed with Maboko Shembekho and used the land value as another reason for dismissing the case.
“As such, I strike out this suit on grounds that this court lacks jurisdiction considering that the pending issue of ownership or interest is one that is res judicata and even more, considering the pecuniary value of the subject property which is way beyond this court’s pecuniary jurisdiction,” Ms Kelly ruled.
The magistrate had on February 28 issued orders stopping security agencies including police and the area chief from entering or interfering with the 343-acre land.
She lifted the orders on March 13, pending a ruling on the court’s authority to hear the dispute.
Maboko Shembekho applied to join the suit after the order had been issued, and accused Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd and its officials of hiding crucial information from the court such as the past ownership cases and value of the property.
Despite being dissolved in 2002, Ndibithi has laid claim to several land parcels in the Ndabibi area over the past few years.
In 2021, Benjamin Kipkech Kipkulei sued the firm and three individuals claiming to be its officials – Edward Maina, Jane Maina and Moses Gakinya – as they sought to occupy a 5,000-acre land.
Mr Kipkulei sought orders barring Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd and its members from invading the land, and asked for damages for trespass.
Mr Kipkulei, who in his heyday was an aide of former President Daniel Moi, said he had valid documents but had been the target of members of Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd.
On March 12, Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara revealed that President William Ruto had purchased the 5,000-acre parcel from Mr Kipkulei and insisted that all records show that the former Moi aide was the legally registered owner of the property.
Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd filed a counterclaim, holding that Mr Kipkulei’s title deeds were obtained through fraud. High Court judge Lynette Omollo ruled that Ndibithi failed to prove its claim.
“The onus was on the 1st (Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd), 2nd (Edward Maina) and 4th (Moses Gakinya) defendants who sought to rely on fraud on the part of the plaintiff (Mr Kipkulei) to prove that the subdivision of LR 1695 was fraudulent and illegal and they failed to discharge that burden… In the result I find that the suit and counterclaim lack merit and are hereby dismissed with no order as to costs,” Justice Omollo said in her July, 2023 judgment.
Justice Omollo’s judgment was among the reasons Kelly dismissed the fresh suit filed by Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd.
Last week, police arrested two Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd officials – Edward Maina Ruiru and Reuben Gitau Njoroge – on suspicion of taking millions from members of the public under the pretext that they could allocate them prime land parcels in Ndabibi.
The duo was arrested for allegedly leading people to destroy a fence put up by Eburu Hills Farm Ltd.
“The respondents (Mr Maina and Mr Njoroge) are believed to have damaged a fence belonging to Eburu Hills Farm Ltd. They are believed to have incited members of the public to damage the same and occupy the land. The respondents are also believed to be involved in extortion of money from the public in connection to the mobilisation towards acquiring the said farm,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a court affidavit when seeking to hold the duo pending conclusion of investigations.
The subject land parcel Ndibithi was fighting for before Ms Kelly has also been claimed by another group, Mwana Mwireri Rironi.
Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd sued Mwana Mwireri in 2012, but the suit was dismissed after the former failed to prosecute the matter.
In 2016, the High Court in Nakuru dismissed an application by Ndibithi Farmers Company Ltd which sought to reopen the case.
Yet another group, Naivasha Farmers Company Ltd, has also laid claim to some land parcels in the Ndabibi area.
