The late
Mark Too's family will only retain about 60 acres of the disputed 27,000-acre property in Eldoret, a court has ruled following a fresh case by about 700 squatters.
More than 3,000 squatters won a dispute last month after the High Court declared that they were the rightful owners of the property said to belong to the family of the late Nominated MP.
But the new group said
they bought 1,000 acres of the land from East African Tanning and Extract Company (EATEC), which was owned by Lonrho East Africa.
Group chairman
Kibyego Sawe said they all had titles which they acquired after buying the land.
"We bought the land genuinely from EATEC and the government is fully aware of how we acquired it," said Sawe.
"We have stayed on the land for more than 15 years as the rightful owners. We will not agree to vacate."
Judge Anthony Obwayo
ruled on Wednesday that the squatters were genuinely allocated the land during retired President Daniel Moi's regime and that it should be given to them.
He said documents availed in court indicated that the property should have been distributed to the hundreds of squatters.
The judge
ordered the cancellation of all titles for the property
located between Eldoret Airport and Moi University.
Too's family, led by widow Sophie Too, has already moved to the Court
of Appeal to challenge Obwayo’s ruling. They have insisted that he bought and fully owned the land.
Squatters have been threatening to invade the land after a court ruled that it belonged to them.
But Too was buried on the property on January 9; he died before the conclusion of the case the squatters filed at the
High Court.
Benjamin Rono, another one of the squatters' representatives, said:
"We are happy that justice has finally been done and will act as per the court order."
Rono said they had been holding meetings to ensure the enforcement of the court order.
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