A stone figurine in the living room bears a deep cut on the head, one of many scars the Gachoka family now says it bears from an attack on October 19, which was intended to evict them.
The house that hosts media personality Ciku Muiruri, her mother Margaret, brother Pius and his children is littered with broken glass. Furniture has been overturned, and the metal on the doors is bent out of shape.
Inside, their clothing, cutlery and household appliances are strewn all over the different rooms.
A group the Gachokas say was of over 200 men stormed the 41-acre property, purportedly sent by Floriculture International Ltd to remove them from the land which has for three decades been the centre of a bitter ownership dispute.
Over 200 men stormed the Gachoka family's 41-acre property in a violent midnight eviction attempt, ransacking the home and threatening to exhume family graves.
Photo credit: File | Nation
For now, the two sides continue to live in a paradox, the family occupying one side of the property while Floriculture has deployed masses of men on another side of the property who, as of Wednesday, October 28, put up a fence around the area.
The ownership dispute has produced a bizarre paradox – two rival claimants now occupy separate sections of the same property, with the Gachoka family in their longtime home and Floriculture's men, who by Wednesday put up a fence, occupying the adjoining ground.
Joseph Muiruri Gachoka and his wife Margaret Gachoka bought the 41-acre farm from Gatumaini Ltd in 1984. The land is adjacent to the Thika Superhighway.
The couple had six children, including media personality Ciku Muiruri and politician Tony Gachoka.
A violent midnight raid on a 41-acre property near the Thika Superhighway has escalated a decades-long bitter ownership dispute involving media personality Ciku Muiruri’s family.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Four years after the purchase, the Muiruri patriarch died, in what his kin now say was the start of their troubles, which culminated in the alleged attack.
“They have been here before in smaller groups, but this was the first time that they came at night. I heard people shouting ua! Ua! (kill! kill!).) I locked myself in my bedroom, but it wasn’t long before they were banging down my door. They broke in and I handed over my laptop, phone and cash I thought all would be well but it wasn’t. They pushed me back into the room, pushed me on the floor and they started tugging at my clothes. I recited a prayer over and again, loudly,” Ciku states.
Thika land dispute: Gachoka family alleges invasion amid pending court case
Ciku says one of the men yanked her out of the room and pushed her outside as the men continued their rampage. She struggled to look for her car keys so she could get out of the property. It was in the midst of this that one of the men turned his attention to her.
“One of the men said, 'This rasta woman is the one who normally reports the matter at the police station.' This guy takes a crowbar and metal objects they had, like machetes, and he hits me across the head on my skull…I still have the bumps. And that’s how I got this black eye on my face. I’m just glad I didn’t lose my eye,” Ciku adds.
“I’m sure they have families. I don’t know how they would feel if it were their families. We pray for them…that God forgives them," Margaret Gachoka, the family’s matriarch, says.
Jayne Gachoka, the first-born child of Joseph and Margaret, was at one of the houses located within the property at the time of the attack. She says that she heard the men barging in, breaking down the gates and shouting before they streamed into her portion of the land where they had identified a target.
“They had shovels and they marched towards my father’s grave. He is buried next to my grandmother and niece. They said they would dig up the graves, and I told them ‘Do what you want but do not desecrate those graves.’ They then pushed us out,” Jayne states.
Over 200 men stormed the Gachoka family's 41-acre property in a violent midnight eviction attempt, ransacking the home and threatening to exhume family graves.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Floriculture maintains that it owns the land
Floriculture International’s lawyer, Nelson Havi, insisted that his client owns the land.
“This is impunity. Floriculture are the rightful owners of the property. I will post my full response on 'X' (a social media site) so then we see who will get the most coverage," Havi said when the Nation called him.
“The land was sold and transferred to Floriculture Limited in 1995 by Trust Bank Limited. The Gachoka family sought an injunction stopping them from taking the possession of the property pending the hearing and determination of the appeal which will be delivered in November,” Mr Havi posted on his X handle.
Floriculture International’s claim dates back to 1995 when Abdirashid Sharifow and his business partner Satishchandra Venilal Naker say they purchased the property for Sh60 million at a public auction after one of the Gachoka children, Tony, defaulted on a Trust Bank loan which was secured with the land.
The land was registered to Central Kenya Ltd, which Joseph Muiruri Gachoka and his wife Margaret owned. In 1993, five years after the patriarch died, Tony’s Katka Islands Ltd borrowed Sh45 million from Trust Bank.
The loan was secured with the 41-acre land, and Tony provided the lender with documents showing that he was the Board chairman of Central Kenya Ltd, which made the deal appear like sister companies bailing each other out.
Activist Tony Gachoka.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
When Tony defaulted on the loan, the bank auctioned the property.
Through Central Kenya Ltd, Tony’s mother sued him in 1995. She also sued Floriculture International Ltd, First National Finance Ltd, Shaun Warren Barrette, Katka Islands, Kuldip Singh Chawla, Ajay Indravadan Shah, Satishchandra Venilal Naker, the Commissioner of Lands, the Registrar of Titles and the Attorney-General in a bid to return the property’s ownership to the Gachokas.
Margaret Gachoka argued that her son, Tony, fraudulently sold off their family home without the authority to do so or her knowledge.
She further stated that the property was sold off at a suspiciously low value, as it was worth billions.
In the court documents, Margaret stated that in 1985 she and her husband Joseph took a loan for Sh3 million at the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), which they were granted.
After the senior Gachoka died, she asked Tony to pay off the loan from AFC and have the property discharged.
Margaret said she was later surprised to find out that not only had the property been discharged, but it had been used as security for another loan.
The court in February 2020 dismissed Central Kenya Ltd’s case, holding that it had failed to file evidence that Tony Gachoka was neither the company’s board chairman nor a director at the time the documents for the Trust Bank loan were executed.
Central Kenya Ltd appealed against the High Court decision. On November 13, the Court of Appeal will rule on an application by Central Kenya Ltd to block eviction pending final determination of the case.
Floriculture International’s lawyer Nelson Havi said that his client has a right to possession on account of the Court of Appeal not granting orders stopping the eviction of the Gachokas.
“Floriculture has taken possession of the property as it is entitled to in law, is occupying and, fencing it off. Central Kenya Ltd and the family of Tony Gachoka have since March, 2026 employed all manner of tricks using compliant police officers and some elected leaders in Thika to help them resist the occupation by Floriculture Limited. Having failed, they have resorted to seeking public sympathy, accusing everyone they think of in the procees,” Havi posted on his X handle.
In 1995, Kuldip Chawla from Trust Bank forced the family out of the land, claiming ownership. The family sued and were given back possession. However, Margaret said she was puzzled about how the title moved from AFC.
Abdirashid Sharifow, in a sworn statement from 2024, says he bought the property through a company, whose name he could not recall, in 1995 through Floriculture, which he co-founded with Satishchandra Venilal Naker.
Strangely, in 2025, Abdirashid recanted part of his statement and said Floriculture did not buy the land through a public auction but instead through a private treaty.
He added that he only became a director of Floriculture after he bought 500 shares from his co-director Satishchandra Venilal Naker in 2023, despite earlier claiming that they registered the company together in 1995.
A sergeant named Samuel Macharia filed findings in court on February 19, 2026, following a police investigation.
Police found that Abdirashid was unable to provide documents on how he purchased the land, and they intended to charge him with obtaining registration by false pretence.
Sergeant Samuel Macharia also recommended to the court that AFC be charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.
“Now what is happening is even worse. The lease expired and we have applied for one and we have the approval for the renewal. We even get to the point where we pay for the Registry Index Map [which links a written title deed to the physical piece of land]. Floriculture took our receipt and was issued with the RIM to take to the National Lands Commission. We discover this and go to the director of survey who cancels and we have the letter.” Jayne states.
On Monday, the Gachoka family sued the police and Attorney-General for allegedly failing to protect them in the course of the land battle. They have, in the fresh case, sought orders directing police to protect them from any further assault from the men or any eviction happening pending the matter.
Floriculture Ltd has sought to be joined to the suit, which will be heard on November 5.
