Former Kitui governor Charity Ngilu and Azimio La Umoja bigwig has suffered a blow after Mombasa Court declined to issue conservatory orders to evict Kenyans living on a disputed land which used to belong to her late husband Michael Mwendwa.
Judge Lucas Naikuni of the Environment and Labour Court gave residents of Salama village, Changamwe Constituency 14 days to reply to Ngilu’s lawyer, Elijah Gathu, who had filed a case to evict them for trespassing on the land.
The residents who appeared through their lawyer Yusuf Abubakar via remote requested the court to give them ample time to respond to Ngilu’s notice of motion. They also want the court to set aside the application to evict them from the disputed parcel of land.
Justice Naikuni ruled that it would be fair to hear the residents’ request for ample time to argue their case as he ordered for the status quo to remain until the case is heard and determined. He also directed the matter to come for inter party hearing on November 24 as he warned the Azimio politician against hiring police to harass the residents.
Ngilu has featured in many land cases in Kenya, including the Karen land saga which caused her her job in Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration where she served as the Cabinet Secretary for Lands. She was dropped from the cabinet after she appeared in a magistrate’s court where she was charged over her role in the grabbing of the controversial Karen land.
She refused to take a plea and asked for her charges to be separated from eight officials charged alongside her for fraudulent acquisition of the land — arguing that the charges were not related.
Mrs Ngilu used her position at the Lands docket to obstruct investigations into the Karen land saga by directing ministry officials not to release documents to aid investigators or record any statements regarding the matter.
