[Source: The Standard, by Willis Oketch]
The High Court has ordered squatters out of a piece of land owned by Leisure Lodge in Diani.
Justices Erick Ogola, Mugure Thande and Dorcas Chepkwony also ruled that the title deeds issued by the Government to the squatters were illegal.
Also nullified was a declaration of the piece of land as a settlement scheme.
The dispute dates back to the early 1990s when Leisure Lodge sued to challenge the illegal occupation of its golf course by squatters and local politicians.
The squatters claimed the land belonged to their ancestors and that the State officially gave them the land in 1986.
However, the hotel convinced the High Court that the disputed ten plots that form the golf course were legally allocated to it by the State in 1986 and that there was no proof that it had been made a settlement scheme.
Nullifying the title deeds, the judges ruled that allowing them to stand would amount to double allocation.
The judges said the only way the hotel could lose its 1986 title deed was if the State acquired it compulsorily for public. This, they noted, never happened.
The three judges declared that the creation of Diani complex settlement scheme which was used to settle some 700 squatters was a nullity.
The judges found that State officers in the case displayed blatant abuse of the office and impunity with regards to court orders on the disputed property.
The judges said the revocation of the hotel’s title deed and allocation of the land to squatters was illegal.
[Full article: The Standard, by Willis Oketch]
