The Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal ruling that ordered the estate of former President Daniel Moi and businessman Jaswant Rai to pay more than Sh1 billion to an Eldoret family for allegedly seizing their land in 1983.
The family of Noah Chilugwe, the former leader who died in 2005, has accused the former president of seizing a 53-acre plot of land in mysterious circumstances.
Chilugwe’s widow, Susan, and her son David filed a lawsuit against Moi, Ray Plywood and land officials in Eldoret, alleging that the land was forcibly taken from their father on September 21, 1983.
The High Court, presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome, said there was nothing in the records to suggest that Moi and Ray Plywood acquired the 53-acre land fraudulently or illegally.
“From the foregoing analysis, the inescapable conclusion we must arrive at is that there was no basis for the Court of Appeal to criticise the validity of the first appellant’s title to the property in question,” Justices Komi, Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Isaac Linwala and William Oko said.
The Supreme Court judges overturned decisions by the High Court and the Court of Appeal that ordered Moi’s estate and Ray Plywood to pay Sh1.06 billion to the Chilugwe family.
Senior lawyer Jan Mohammed Zahrabanu, the executor of Moi’s will, said Chilugoi never complained of lost property before his death, and that no evidence had been presented to support claims of lost or stolen property.
The court also said the lower court failed to take into account the admission of the Sh70,000 receipt or appreciate that Mr Stanley Metu, who alleged that he obtained the original title fraudulently, was not prosecuted during his lifetime or thereafter.
Ray Plywood claimed that it was an innocent purchaser of the land from Moi for value without knowledge of the defect in the title.
The Chilogwe family says all efforts to recover the land were in vain because several land registrars in Eldoret, Usain Gishu and other officials in the Ministry of Lands were complicit in the actions that led to the loss of the land.
“Accordingly, it is clear that from 1983 to 2014, Noah Chelugui or his estate did not pursue any legal means to establish his claim of violation of his constitutional right to property. This delay can only be excessive and requires a reasonable explanation,” the judges said.
In his defence, Mr Rai said he bought the land from Mr Moi in 2007 after conducting research and confirming that it was owned by the former president.
Moi’s family had appealed the Land and Environment Court’s decision, saying the judge had erred in using the 2010 Constitution to decide the case rather than the laws in force at the time.
In a 2019 ruling, Environment and Lands Court Judge Anthony Omboyao ruled that Moi had illegally seized the land from Mr Chilugwe and later sold it to Ray Plywood, a company owned by businessman Ray.
In July 2022, the Moi family’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was rejected, forcing the estate, led by Moi’s executor, lawyer Jan Mohammed, to go to the Supreme Court.