• The case was filed in 2002 and was only concluded on October 18.
• The High Court in Nyeri ordered Kakuzi to process a title deed for the 70 acres.
Image: Alice Waithera
Image: Alice Waithera
Members of the Makuyu Golf Club on Monday celebrated a win against Kakuzi Company after a long-standing court case over the ownership of a 70-acre golf course.
The club’s trustee Joel Wanyoike said golfers have been fighting for the golf course for the past 17 years and were ecstatic after the High Court ruled in their favour.
Wanyoike said the contention started after the fruits processing company staked a claim of the parcel. He said white settlers, who lived in the Makuyu area, started playing golf in 1934 and even contributed parts of their land to make up the golf course.
He said the settlers adjusted their land to accommodate the course, which was then hived off Kakuzi company land and the company was supposed to process a title for it but never did. Wanyoike said the land had initially been occupied by Sisal Limited, with the company occupying the land in 1967.
“All this while, the settlers were still playing golf and no issues cropped up,” Wanyoike said.
In the 1990s, however, Africans started patronising the course and joined the club as members. When they were elected to the club’s executive, Kakuzi asked the club to sign a licensing agreement with them to be paying an annual fee for playing on the course.
The club went to court in September 2002 to have the course delineated and to compel the company to process a title deed for the golf course after it sent in guards to stop members from putting up a clubhouse on it.
The case dragged over the years and was only heard in December last year and judgment given on October 18, with the company ordered to process a title deed for the golf course.
“It has been a torturous journey. Along the way, we lost many members who lost heart and I was under a lot of pressure to drop the case,” he said.
The club celebrated the victory by inviting golfers to play on the course, with more than 80 players participating and hundreds of onlookers turning up.
Wanyoike noted that the club is the cheapest in the country as it charges a membership fee of Sh35,000 while others charge more than Sh200,000.
“We will now sit down as the management of the club and decide how to grow our club to the level of any other golf club,” Wanyoike added.
He pointed out that the land is only enough for a nine-hole course and appealed to the company to consider giving them more land for an 18-hole course. Having the course operational will impact on the local economy as the sport is played weekly and a lot of money used.
“Today, every golfer is paying their caddie between Sh. 800 to Sh. 1,000 amounting to an average of Sh. 70,000 that will be left with the locals,” he said, noting that 8 goats sourced from the neighbored were slaughtered and locals sold fruits and other wares to the attendants.
Former Kasarani MP John Njoroge said golf is no longer a rich man’s sport and has become common the world over. Njoroge, a player, said the course will encourage local youths to engage in the sport and hone their talents.
Father Peter Kaigwa said the ‘Clergy and Friends’ competition has been played every Monday for the past 12 years and has been to Makuyu thrice.
“We are happy the case is over since the club will now grow and establish the required facilities,” he said.