During a National Assembly committee hearing on November 29, 2002, the then Commissioner for Cooperatives, David Obonyo, alleged that the chairman of the Drumvale Farmers' Cooperative Society , Felix Maingi, had led goons to raid his office and stole documents relating to 16,000 acres of land.
Mr Obonyo told the Committee on Lands that there were witnesses who could place Mr Maingi at the scene.
But Mr Maingi was thousands of kilometres away, attending the funeral of his son in the USA.
Mr Maingi eventually appeared before the committee with travel documents that showed he was not in the country.
Asked by the committee to name the witnesses who could place Mr Maingi at the scene, Mr Obonyo was noncommittal.
It is one of many intrigues in the battle over the 16,000-acre land, which cuts across Nairobi and Machakos counties and has seen a new entrant lay claim to the vast, prime property - former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu.
Last week, Mr Waititu told Nation.Africa that the land belonged to him, but refused to share title deeds to prove his claim.
Instead, he said reporters should conduct their own green card search at the Ministry of Lands.
Mr Waititu claimed that Mr Maingi had imposed himself as chairman of Drumvale and had only been in office for a month.
Court and National Assembly records where Mr Maingi has testified show that he was elected chairman of the society in 2018 and his term was renewed in 2022.
Mr Maingi now says he is living in fear after Drumvale's offices in the Kamulu shopping centre were invaded on January 13.
He is the chairperson of the society and has testified on its behalf in court and before the National Assembly.
A group of people, some armed, forcefully took occupation of the office, with instructions to never let Mr Maingi into the premises, which houses several crucial documents related to Drumvale, its members, assets and bank accounts.
For years, Mr Maingi has been at the centre of the fight for Drumvale, a society largely made up of old farmers, to recover land and other assets valued at over Sh11 billion.
On December 13, 2024, their office premises had been invaded by people who had left similar instructions.
“Despite reporting the two incidences at Kamulu Police Station, and the Nairobi Regional Commissioner, no action has been taken.”
In a separate, but related dispute, a Machakos High Court ruled that 57 landowners in Kamulu be given access to their property by Madubat Trading Company and Kamulu Housing Cooperative.
The 57 had sued, claiming that they were forcefully evicted from their land.
The management of Kamulu Housing was ordered to ensure that it transfers the respective portions of the suit property purchased by the plaintiffs within 30 days from the day of the ruling.
Two weeks after Justice Annette Nyukuri’s judgment, the successful plaintiffs raised complaints, claiming that Machakos County Commander Patrick Lobolia refused to sign the court order and acknowledge the directive outlining his required actions.
The two disputes are just a glimpse into the tangled web of chaos surrounding prime land in Mavoko and Kamulu.
Drumvale was registered in the early 1960’s by farmers in Kangundo, Mwala, and Matungulu, all in Machakos County, with 16,000 acres of land across Nairobi, Mavoko, and Athi River.
The members sought assistance from the Commissioner of Cooperatives to audit the society’s asset base and distribute land amongst members.
The plan was to have each of the over 2,600 members get at least six acres of land.
In 2007, a letter was written to the Commissioner of Cooperatives.
A Mr JK Maina, then a co-operative officer in Thika town, was tasked with assessing the society’s financial status.
In March, 2008 Mr Maina filed a report that detailed Drumvale’s assets, including significant land holdings, machinery, treasury bills, and Sh1,538,457.27 in bank accounts.
“Some individuals saw our wealth and decided to prevent our recovery. In 2009, we were placed under liquidation,” Mr Maingi said in an interview.
Strangely, despite having no debts or management wrangles, the Commissioner of Cooperatives, Musyimi Mbuli, placed Drumvale under liquidation.
This marked the beginning of a protracted and contentious 13 years of liquidation, during which, according to Mr Maingi, the co-operative lost assets through sale without member’s approval.
The society’s members have won their challenge against Mr Mbuli’s decision on all legal fronts – in the Cooperative Tribunal, High Court and Parliament – but are now poor millionaires as they still do not have possession of uninterrupted access to their land.
Millions of shillings deposited by the company in banks at the start of the illegal liquidation have not been accounted for.
Mr Wanjohi sold at least 7,287 acres during his tenure as liquidator.
Block five of the land parcels was 4,000 acres. Mr Wanjohi sold 500 acres for Sh419.5 million. It is unclear where the money went, as Drumvale had no creditors.
Block 12 was 11,487 acres. Mr Wanjohi sold 6,787 acres.
Though Mr Wanjohi does not object that he was the formal liquidator of Drumvale, he distances himself from the allegations.
“I don’t want to take this discussion further. Let Drumvale raise whatever issues they want to. But my position is very clear that I handed over and I have already been replaced by someone else,” Mr Wanjohi told Nation. Africa.
The society endured a protracted push and pull in the corridors of justice, lengthy meetings in government offices, and the intervention of the Senate and National Assembly, which saw the liquidation formally lifted on 15 July 2022 by Legal Notice No. 8427 in the Kenya Gazette.
A valuation report submitted by the society to the Commissioner of Co-operatives on January 12, 2021, outlines land sales by the liquidator, including 498 acres in Athi River and Mavoko, sold at Sh508,525,000.
“The accounts presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Lands reported only Sh51 million, while our records show over Sh700 million. Where is our money?” Maingi asks.
In a letter dated August 29, 2023, the Clerk of the Senate, Mr Jeremiah Nyegenye, urges the Commissioner of Co-operatives and Mr Wanjohi to urgently submit the plot allocation registers for Blocks 118, 12, and 5, along with the liquidation account report up to July 2022, by September 8, 2023.
This, says Maingi, is yet to happen. Instead, in a letter dated September 7, 2023, the Commissioner of Co-operatives informed Mr Nyegenye that the former liquidator’s office in Kamulu had been vandalised by society officials, resulting in the loss of important documents and registers. He also stated that he had provided audited liquidation accounts up to December 31, 2020, with no transactions recorded in 2021 or 2022. Mr Maingi disputes this claim.
In a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly on August 3, 2023, Mr Maingi highlighted that at the July 28, 2023 handover ceremony, Mr Wanjohi failed to provide the members’ plot allocation registers for 1-acre and 5-acre plots for Block 118, Block 12, and Block 5, certificates of registration, bank statements, the liquidation book, and the full liquidation report for the 13 years.
However, the replacement certificates of registration have since been issued following intervention by the National Assembly Committee on Lands.
More than 5,200 acres of Drumvale land are still “held by goons and looters holding fake title deeds,” Maingi says. On March 20, 2024, the society wrote to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, requesting a probe into the fraudulent acquisition of Nairobi Block 118, and calling for the cancellation of counterfeit lease certificates held by four individuals.
In Kamulu, James Mungaru led 57 other landowners to court, where they knew they had won following a judgment two weeks ago.
A copy of the letter by Fredrick Thuita an advocate and which is in our possession asked the county commander to follow the orders issued in court and assist them vacate the parcel of land.
Mr Thuita said that his clients had noticed that Madubat Trading Company had intensified its activities on the parcel of land after the judgment.
Machakos County Commander Patrick Lobolia denied that he refused to help enforce an eviction order against Madubat.
“We never refuse to receive and sign any letter that is brought to us. What I know about the Madubat case is not new and we are on it. Anyone who claims I refused to sign any letter should bring it to my office,” Mr Lobolia said.
