Mukuru kwa Njenga residents protest over land ownership despite court ruling

Mukuru kwa Njenga residents have held demonstrations demanding Orbit Chemicals to cease demolishing and auctioning the residence and verify their ownership of the land.

Holding the demonstrations at Western Heights on Wednesday, these residents claimed that Orbit Chemicals had been evicting them without a proper reason.

These residents believe the land is government-owned and not Orbit-owned.

“Njenga family owned the land since 1946 which Njenga the son inherited in 1958. From 1958 till 1984, several developments have been established in the land by both the government and the World Bank. The residence is a government land yet Orbit claims the ownership. We want our land back and end of demolitions. We have suffered enough,” James Kariuki a resident at Mkuru kwa Njenga said.

“I have resided in this land since 1974 and Orbit Chemicals began their claims in 1986. We have been here longer than the company that claims to own this land. Now we have been left residing in tents,” he added.

“We the residents of Mukuru kwa Njenga haven’t been sleeping at our residence. Orbit Chemicals through Western Heights have been demolishing and auctioning our land. I and my family have been left without any shelter. We have been sleeping in tents since November 2021 and nobody wants to listen to us. We plead with the government to help us get our land back,” one of the protestants Richard Musyoki said.

In 1985, the National Bank of Kenya invited bidders to tender for land in Nairobi.

Orbit Chemicals Limited was among those who floated their bids for the Mukuru kwa Njenga land.

Orbit Chemicals bought the land but the residents disputed the land registration leading to court cases for decades.

In March 2022, a number of semi-permanent houses were being demolished, and more than 27,000 residents claimed that they had lived on the property since 1958 and, therefore, should not be subjected to evictions.

However, Justice Oguttu Mboya in his judgement found that there was no evidence that they had lived on the land since 1958.

Mukuru kwa Njenga has been faced with demolitions since 2021.

In August 2023, The Environment and Lands Court dismissed a case by Mukuru Kwa Njenga residents that sought to block the auction of a hotly contested property in Embakasi with Orbit Chemicals.

Justice Edward Wabwoto struck out the case saying the ownership of the property had already been determined by several courts and the court had affirmed that the property belonged to Orbit and ordered that all the squatters should be evicted.

“This Court will refrain from pronouncing itself in matters which have been dealt with by several courts making this present case res judicata (already determined),” said the Judge