Family of late MP cries for justice over grabbed property
The family of the late Gem MP Aggrey Ambala is crying for justice over an alleged attempt to grab a property belonging to the late legislator.
The family has filed a complaint against the police in Nairobi accusing them of working with criminals to grab their property located in the upscale Karen suburb.
LEGAL BATTLE
They alleged that the police has refused to act on complains it has lodged with the Hardy Police Station over the property, noting that the officers at the station have decided to second guess court orders.
In a complaint lodged in the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, at Vigilance House, Mr Oduor Ambala, who is the administrator of his late father’s estate, says he has filed complaints at the police station, all related to the trespass on the property, none of which the police had acted upon.
“The only action they have taken was to arrest and subsequently charge with when in fact I was the complainant,” Mr Ambala says in the letter to the Deputy IGP, Edward Mureithi, dated May 6, 2020.
The late Ambala was the MP for Gem Constituency until his death in 1985. Until his demise he acquired a 15-acre piece of land which has since been subdivided into four parcels – LR No 1160/911, LR 1160/912, LR 1160/947, LR 1160/948.
However, the family is embroiled in a major legal battle with Mr Farouk Bhutt and Ms Khadija Bhutt over the ownership of the property, with Mr Ambala’s accusing the two of working with the police to grab the land.
The Court of Appeal in 2018 ordered all transactions on the piece of land and subdivisions and assents after 2016 be revoked and the entries restored to its original status.
COURT ORDER
In line with the order, all those who had acquired the land were required to surrender their titles to the Ministry of Lands within 20 days of the order, failure to which the titles were to be expunged from the records.
Consequently, the Ministry of Lands effected the changes in line with the order of the appellate court which was subsequently gazetted.
Among those who had acquired part of the land are the Bhutts, who the family accuse of using goons to unlawfully fence off their property despite a court order.
In a letter to the Deputy IGP, Mr Ambala says the Mr and Ms Bhutt have refused to honour the court and it was instead using the police to encroach on their property.
“The Officers on the ground seem to have instructions to second guess orders from the Court of Appeal. I have the capacity to hire thugs but I have chosen to put faith in the police service as it happens in civilized societies,” he says.
He says he has been let down because the activities of Mr Bhutt and Ms Bhutt are a breach of their family constitutional rights and criminal within the laws of Kenya.
In his reply to the letter, Nairobi Regional Police Commander Mathew Kutoh while admitting of the legality of the order of the court appeal, argues that the court did not direct the police to provide assistance for the enforcement of the order.