Moi in court to save disputed Kabarak land

Moi in court to save disputed Kabarak land Written By:Dzuya Walter/Hallyghan Agade,    Posted: Thu, Aug 23, 2012

Former President Daniel Moi Former President Daniel Moi has moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision by court of appeal directing him to surrender a 100-acre farm in Kabarak. In his appeal Moi wants the court of appeal ruling quashed on grounds that Malcolm Bell is threatening to enter the parcel of land and take possession when the court had given him six months to hand over the property. Moi further avers that the matter should be heard by the Supreme Court because it involves a matter of general public importance. Bell had moved to the Court of Appeal court after Justice Muga Apondi ruled in 2005 Moi High School Kabarak and retired President Moi were the legal owners of the land. But Court of Appeal judges overturned the ruling saying that the court erred in granting the land ownership to Moi High School Kabarak and that the school failed to prove they had adverse ownership of the land. The judges further noted the land was to be transferred to the school by Mr Bell after construction of a cattle dip, a borehole and electricity connection by Moi but he failed to honour its side of the bargain hence the transfer of the land was never completed. Cemetery scandal Elsewhere, former Nairobi mayor Geoffrey Majiwa and his deputy Geoffrey Katsolleh were Thursday freed by the court over the 283 million shillings cemetery scandal. The court ruled that the evidence against them did not warrant putting them on their defence. However Land Surveyor Cephas Kamande Mwaura and land valuer Boniface Misera will stand in the witness dock to defend themselves. Nairobi principal magistrate Lucy Nyambura ruled that the two were not involved in the registration and transaction of the cemetery land. The court heard that Majiwa only signed after all the negotiations had been completed and that by signing the cemetery documents he was fulfilling his statutory duty. Nyambura said no witness was availed to prove that Katsolleh by the time the negotiations started was employed by the City Council of Nairobi. Through his lawyer George Kithi, Katsolle had argued that he was employed at the council in  2009. However Land Surveyor Cephas Kamande Mwaura and land valuer Boniface Misera were not lucky after the court ruled that the prosecution had established a prima-facie case against them. The two will defend themselves on the 27th of this month. Meanwhile, the September 27th by-elections might not take place after all, after human rights activist Okiya Omutata filed a petition at the high-court seeking interim conservatory order to be issued to restrain IEBC from allowing over 51 political parties from fielding candidates at the by-elections and the March 4th 2013 general elections. He argues that not one of the political parties which have held primaries in the by-election areas have used registered party members as required by the political parties act 2011and the constitution.