A section of Imani Estate, the disputed land belonging to the Kanyotu family, which a court has ordered occupants to vacate, pictured on September 20, 2025.
In a packed Deliverance Church Kasarani, Nairobi, it was a normal service that later turned into a business empowerment forum. Church elders revealed that they were launching a multibillion-shilling investment project to help the congregation become homeowners.
This was 2014, and the investment idea was relatable to most, given Kasarani and its neighbouring Zimmerman, Githurai 45, and Mwiki areas were among the most densely populated areas in Nairobi, with the majority being tenants.
Unaware, the flock, firmly seated in the pews and clapping in celebration, were just about to learn hard lessons and part with millions due to an ownership battle involving Deliverance Church leaders Bishop Mark Kariuki and John Masinde, the family of former spymaster James Kanyotu, and Goldenberg scandal mastermind Kamlesh Pattni.
The late James Kanyotu.
The investment that the church was marketing was 500 acres in the heart of Ruiru town, Kiambu County, where a residential plot measuring 50x100 would cost between Sh2.5 million and Sh4.4 million, depending on its proximity to the Ruiru -Githunguri road.
The same empowerment message had become a regular announcement across Deliverance Churches in Kenya on Sunday, marketing a multi-billion residential project named Imani Estate that was being sold by the church through Ukombozi Holdings Limited, its commercial arm with interest in land selling and off-plan development.
Within years, word went out about the project, and in droves, thousands of investors pumped in billions of shillings buying the land after being duped into believing that Ukombozi Holdings Limited were the legal owners of the land, yet in reality, they were holding brief as a proxy.
Due diligence done but still conned
A land owner in the Kenyan legal context is the person whose name appears on the property's title deed or lease, and holds the official ownership and responsibility for its legal and administrative matters. A beneficial owner is the person who benefits from, or enjoys the property's income or use.
From the lower middle class to the upper middle class, thousands joined the bandwagon, oblivious of undertaking checks and balances of the project that has now become the latest scandal of church-backed investments collapsing with billions and leaving thousands holding worthless paper in the name of title deeds.
A court order has seen investors who paid for the land, now valued at approximately Sh10 billion, lose out in the Ukombozi saga.
Michael Kamau is one of those in a dilemma, as his Sh34 million luxury maisonette, which stands tall at Imani Estate, is among buildings that could be demolished in the coming days.
A view of some of the homesteads developed on a section of Imani Estate, the disputed land belonging to the Kanyotu family, which a court has ordered occupants to vacate, pictured on September 20, 2025.
He bought two plots, each measuring 50x100, at a combined cost of Sh9 million from a mutual friend, who was convinced that the project was legitimate because it was being marketed by the church.
Mr Kamau told Daily Nation in an interview on Friday that demolishing his investment and parting ways with his neighbourhood would be a painful experience, after his ownership documents were cancelled through a court order. He now has nothing tangible to prove that he owns the land that hosts his luxurious home.
''Sadly, we were duped by the men of God who were not honest enough to tell us that the property they were selling was not legally theirs from the onset, and it had active cases. Most people bought the property because the people who were marketing it were familiar to us on matters religion,’’ Mr Kamau told Daily Nation on Friday.
Stephen Mbugua is another victim who may be forced to learn an expensive lesson in due diligence when parting with huge sums of cash in the name of land purchase.
He bought a 50x100 land at Sh2.5 million in the year 2018. In January 2019, he set up a Sh9 million residential house serviced through a sacco loan and eventually moved in the same year in December.
A view of some of the homesteads developed on a section of Imani Estate, the disputed land belonging to the Kanyotu family, which a court has ordered occupants to vacate, pictured on September 20, 2025.
Mr Mbugua told Daily Nation that he deposited the money directly to Ukombozi Holdings Limited and came to learn about active court cases on the property after he had paid for the land.
He recalls that Ukombozi Holdings never informed the buyers that the land never belonged to them, but was acting as agents of a third party.
''I started building around 2019, and this is when I realised there were ongoing cases. What followed were subsequent judgments that eventually nullified our leases. I paid Sh2.5 million to Ukombozi Holdings Limited. What is troubling is that as we speak all our leases stand cancelled through a gazette notice and the people who sold the property to us are nowhere to answer our questions,’’ Mr Mbugua told Daily Nation on Thursday last week.
Lease cancelled despite approval by State
Mercy Wanjiku is another victim; the husband paid Sh3million to Ukombozi Holdings Limited for a 50x100 residential plot. She told Daily Nation that she is very shocked that the government can cancel leases yet the same documents had earlier been approved by the State after approving all checks and balances.
A view of some of the homesteads developed on a section of Imani Estate, the disputed land belonging to the Kanyotu family, which a court has ordered occupants to vacate, pictured on September 20, 2025.
''Sadly, we are here because we trusted the people who were selling the land, but how can the government claim our ownership documents are forgeries yet they came from their office and we have previously used the same documents to acquire loans with the property as the security,'' Ms Wanjiku said, noting she is yet to develop the land.
The prominent religious leaders the victims are referring to are Bishop Kariuki, a senior pastor and General Overseer of Deliverance Churches Kenya and Mr Masinde, who is the founder and senior pastor of Deliverance Church International.
Bishop Mark Kariuki.
Business Registration Service records show that Ukombozi Holdings Ltd, which sold the contested land to investors, is owned by Bishop John Masinde, Bishop Mark Kariuki, Peter Keefar Njogah, Jim Kenny Kimani and George Gichana.
Web of fraud
Since Thursday last week, Bishop Mark Kariuki and Bishop John Masinde did not respond to Daily Nation calls and text messages inquiring how they advertised and sold contested land to the public, what went wrong, and whether the sale agreements with buyers had refund clauses.
But how was the fraud executed?
Court filings reveal a web of fraud that could serve as a cautionary tale, with the family of former spymaster Kanyottu, who died in 2008, sitting right at the centre of the scheme.
The contested land originally belonged to Kangaita Coffee Estates Limited, where Kanyotu was the majority shareholder.
After his demise, the land became part of the estate and was held under the administration and the High Court sitting in Nairobi issued restraining orders against any further dealings.
Despite this, the land was allegedly sold to Trendsetters Investments Limited, a company associated with Goldenberg mastermind Kamlesh Pattni.
Kamlesh Pattni.
The Pattni-linked firm later sold it to Marriott Africa International Limited.
Marriott would later subdivide the land into over 1,000 plots and fraudulently transferred ownership to Ukombozi Holdings Limited.
During the hearing, Willy Kihara - a man claiming to be a son of Mr Kanyottu in the spymaster's succession case- claimed that Bishop Kariuki and Ukombozi were selling the land on behalf of Mr Pattni.
"On cross-examination by learned counsel for the Interested Party/Third Defendants to the counterclaim, the witness (Willy Kihara) averred that the person who has been selling the land is Ukombozi Holdings Ltd. However, the witness added that Ukombozi Holdings Ltd is selling the land on behalf of Kamlesh Pattni," the judge noted while reading out the case's verdict.
Illegal occupation
Contested for illegal occupation, Marriott Africa International Limited moved to court seeking permanent orders restraining the Kanyotu family and his estate Kangaita Coffee Estates Limited, from trespassing and subdividing the land.
In the suit, Marriott Africa International Limited listed Magret Nyakinyua Murigu, Mary Wanjiku Kanyotu (Kanyotu widows) and his son Willy Kihara and Kangaita Coffee Estates Limited as defendants, with Ukombozi Holdings Limited listed as an interested party.
Interestingly, Trendsetters Investment Limited, which Marriott Africa International Limited had claimed as the entity that it bought the land from, was not listed as the respondent, raising the suspicion that they were one unit disguised as different entities.
Curiously, Jophece Yego, who is a shareholder at Trendsetters Investments Limited, is also a shareholder at Marriott Africa International Limited, Business Registration Service records show.
Marriott Africa International Limited in its defence, told the court that it was the legal owner, having bought the property from Trendsetters Investment Limited for Sh750 million, including the accompanying stamp duty, after conducting due diligence and confirming that it was dealing with the legal land owner.
But the Kanyotu family, led by his two wives, Mary Nyakinyua Murigu and Mary Wanjiku, told the court that the whole transaction was fraudulent and illegitimate, in total breach of existing court orders issued in 2010 that halted any succession or transaction on the contested property. They denied at any time engaging or authorising any party to transact on their behalf.
Forensic audit: 'Documents are forgeries'
The biggest blow to Marriot Africa International Limited, Trendsetters Investments Limited and Ukombozi Holdings Ltd was when two forensic document examiners, Chief Inspector Bernard Cheruiyot and Vincent Chelongo, told the court that the documents the plaintiff was citing to claim the legitimacy of the land were forgeries.
''Chief Inspector Bernard Cheruiyot testified that the same was privy to a forensic document examination report. The report under reference was dated 18th November 2021. The said report touched on and concerned the validity of the letters of consent dated 26th July, 2012 and the 6th May 2014 respectively. It was the testimony of the witness that after examining the questioned signatures, he concluded that the letters of consent were forgeries. A declaration be and is hereby issued that the parcel of land known as L.R No. 11261/76 belongs to the 4th defendant/counter-claimer herein and the alleged sale to the 1st defendant to the counterclaim; was null and void. A declaration be and is hereby issued that the purported sale agreement dated 19th April 2012 allegedly between the plaintiff in the main suit and the 1st defendant to the counterclaim herein is illegal, null and void as it was entered contrary and in violation of the orders issued by the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi H.C Succ Cause No. 1239 of 2008 in the matter of estate of James Kanyotu [Deceased] and registered against the title for the suit land on 7th July 2010 and 23rd November 2010 respectively and the said agreement and or contract is not enforceable before any court of law for illegality,’’ Justice Oguttu Mboya said in a judgement that was delivered on July 10, 2025.
Even as this happens, it has emerged that both Marriot Africa International Limited and Trendsetters Investment Limited, which claimed to have transacted on the land and later sold the land to each other in 2014 were technically one unit.
Court filings reveal that they shared the same postal address and location in Nairobi’s Westlands area, heightening a possible collusion where Marriot Africa International Limited used Ukombozi Holdings Limited as a front to attract the masses and later transfer selling rights to them, but were ultimately passive income earners.
An ownership search on the Business Registration Service portal shows that Marriott Africa International Limited is owned by Joseph John Crosby (Briton), Dmytro Abakumov (Ukrainian), Jophece Yogo, Abdul Dawood Hassan and Min Bahadur Rawot (Nepal) while Trendsetters Investment Limited is owned by Jophece Yego, Aman Vyas (India national), Ketankumar Raychura Vrajlal (India national) and Sanjay Kishorkoumar Mashru.
Justice Mboya: 'Cancel all title deeds'
Justice Ogutu Mboya, on 10th July, ordered that the Chief Land Registrar revoke and cancel all title deeds arising from Land Reference Number 11261/76 with a subsequent gazette notice which was issued by the government on August 15, affecting the latter as an illegal occupation.
''Notice is given to all the affected person to surrender to surrender all the titles resultant of the illegal subdivision of the said piece of land to the office of the Chief Land Registrar within ninety days from the date of the said court decree, failure to which all the titles resultant of the subdivision of L.R. No.11261/76 shall be deemed to be cancelled and revoked as per the court order,’’ P.M. Ng’ang’a , Registrar of Titles said through a Gazette notice Number 11373 issued on August 15, 2025.
The tussle over the contested land that is valued at Sh10 billion has already taken a political inclination, pitting Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome against Kiambu Senator Karungo Wa Thang'wa.
Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome.
Ms Wahome, who at one point represented a director of Kangaita Coffee Estate Limited in a separate dispute on the Kanyotu estate, denies involvement and has threatened to sue Mr Thang’wa for defamation. Ms Wahome represented Ms Margaret Nyakinyua, the second interim administrator in the succession dispute.
On Tuesday, the investors who bought the land from Ukombozi Holdings got a three-month stay order until the matter is heard and determined.
