Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru is embroiled in a vicious court battle with lawyer Chris Kabiro to retain the ownership of her Sh200 million Kitisuru home.
Waiguru bought the property located at Waridi Gardens from Kihingo Village Limited on September 25, 2015, for Ksh80.6 million (The home now has an estimated sale value of Ksh200 million). She paid Ksh40.6 million at the onset of the transactions and was left with a balance of Ksh40 million to clear.
Kihingo village is associated with one Mr. Ndung’u Gethenji, the former Tetu MP who has been embroiled in court battles with his family members to control their Sh20 billion property in Kitisuru.
The Court of Appeal dismissed his request that sought to grant him powers to solely take over the management of Kihingo Village which manages Waridi Gardens.
But the transaction for the purchase of Waiguru’s home ran into legal complications after lawyer Chris Kabiro also claimed ownership of the same property.
Gethenji did not reveal to Waiguru that the property she was paying for had been allocated to lawyer Chris Kabiro. He brazenly went against the court order and sold the Kitisuru property to Waiguru despite an existing court petition blocking the sale.
The order barring Gethenji and Kihingo Village Limited from selling the Kitisuru property was issued by Justice Erick Ogola on December 5, 2012 and confirmed on December 5, 2013.
The order stopped Kihingo Village Limited from selling, alienating, transferring, charging, or tampering with the property which was allocated the Kitisuru property in compensation for legal fees since he was the lawyer for the development project in 2007.
Sale agreement dated November 25, 2007 shows that Kabiro was allocated House Number 1D in a deal entered between him as the purchaser, Wagema Ltd as the registered owner of the land parcel, and Kihingo Village Limited as the seller.
Gethenji is now caught between a rock and a hard place as completing the transaction requested by Waiguru will amount to contempt of the court order.
Kabiro now wants the court to issue an eviction notice to Waiguru as he argues that the property was not available for sale or alienation. He also wants the governor’s case seeking to compel Kihingo to complete the sale transaction dismissed.
But the lawyer acknowledges that Waiguru was a victim of an illegal transaction as he also noted that the court could not protect victims of illegal transactions.
“Waiguru is a victim of an illegal transaction but a court of law cannot give cover to such victims of illegal transactions,” Kibiro said in his affidavit.
