- Professor Gordon Okumu Wayumba has come out to boldly defend Michael Ohas, a retired civil servant who is battling for the control of the property with the DP.
- Both parties are laying claim to the property and have gone to the extent of producing witnesses to swear that they each acquired the property in a legitimate manner.
Image: DPPS
A Land surveyor has sensationally claimed that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua used illegal means to acquire the title of a disputed Sh1.5billion property situated in Nairobi
Professor Gordon Okumu Wayumba has come out to boldly defend Michael Ohas, a retired civil servant who is battling for the control of the property with the DP.
Both parties are laying claim to the property and have gone to the extent of producing witnesses to swear that they each acquired the property in a legitimate manner.
Ohas is a former director of physical planning in the Ministry of Lands.
He is also the director of Colombus Limited.
The DP has accused him of taking advantage of his position while at the Lands office to tamper with records in a bid to rob him of the property.
He has presented three witnesses from the Ministry of Lands all affirming that Gachagua who is the MD of Wamunyoro Investments Limited is the real owner.
One of the witnesses David Nyandoro has gone further to ask the court to cancel the title issued to Columbus terming it as fake.
Nyandoro explains that the first grant was issued to Peter Nduati and Karandi Farm on December 31, 2002, but was later reported missing.
On June 18, 2012, the property was transferred to Wamunyoro for Sh24 million.
Nyandoro said that though Gachagua’s company had the title, another lease title was created on September 11, 2019, and issued to Columbus.
The lease was for a term of 99 years with effect from February 1994 at an annual rent of Sh138,400.
Professor Gordon on the other hand has sworn an affidavit in support of Michael Ohas and Columbus Limited.
Having drawn the Deed plan, the professor says that the suit property was procedurally and regularly allocated and registered in Columbus' favour.
He has refuted the evidence of Gachaguas's 3 witnesses and asked the court to recognize Ohas as the real owner.
He says he was the instructed surveyor and personally undertook the survey of the land.
He claims Ohas was the first person to be issued with allotment letters for the suit property by the government.
His reasons for believing that Wamunyoro obtained the documents illegally are based on the fact that Columbus has been diligently paying for the land rates
He explains that at the ministry of lands, there are two correspondence files.
That is for Wamunyoro and Columbus and both are based on the deed plan issued to implement the allotment in favour of Ohas.
He further states that at the physical planning department, there are two Part Development Plans one for Columbus and another for Wamunyoro.
He says it is clear from the records that only one PDP was issued in favour of Ohas and four others.
And at the survey of Kenya, the professor says there is only one computation file and deed plan for Columbus used to implement the allotment in favour of Columbus.
Also at the ministry of lands, there are no receipts confirming any payments done by Wamunyoro.
“I confirm that in respect to the disputed land, there is only one deed plan that was duly developed and thus only one regularly registered title in respect to the parcel of land.”
He claims to have been contacted in 1994 by Colombus and four others to undertake the survey and produce the deed plan in reference to the parcel of land.
The professor confirms to have drawn the deed plan with respect to the parcel of land and sealed it in order to implement allotment in favour of Columbus.
But the deed plan he explains got lost.
Being the licensed surveyor, he applied for a certified copy of the deed plan which was issued.
He says he took necessary measures to ensure that the property was registered in Columbus' name although the process took longer due to Ohas’s ill health.
“I believe that the clarification in my affidavit should lead to a declaration that the title in favour of Columbus was duly processed through allotment, survey and registration.”
Okumu claims to be fully accredited by the Lands surveyors board of Kenya and has practised for over 30 years.
The case is to be heard on March 16.