Court declares Kisii County Assembly Speaker’s land title fake in major win for NHC beneficiary » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 1 – The High Court has invalidated the land title belonging to Kisii County Assembly Speaker Phillip Machuki Nyanumbi handing a victory to retired teacher John Nyaanga.

Nyaanga has been a long-time occupant and intended beneficiary of the land through the National Housing Corporation (NHC).

In its judgment, the court ruled that the title deed presented by Nyanumba could not be traced to any authentic land records.

It also questioned how he had acquired the title, describing the process as irregular and fraught with inconsistencies.

Central to the court’s findings was the revelation that the official named in the impugned title deed — one Mr. Gacanja — was not a Land Registrar at the time the document was purportedly issued and this cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of the document.

“The court is not satisfied that the Plaintiff held a valid title. The land was under the custody of the National Housing Corporation, and the process of issuing a formal title to the Defendant was already underway,” the judge ruled.

According to evidence by the Land Administration Office and an NHC official, the land had been earmarked for transfer to Nyaanga, who had occupied the property since 1977 after allocation by the now-defunct Kisii Town Council on behalf of NHC.

The court declared Nyaanga the lawful owner of the suit property — parcel LR No. KISII MUNICIPALITY/BLOCK 1/492 — and ordered Nyanumba to vacate the land within 30 days. Any structures erected by the plaintiff must also be removed or demolished within that period.

Additionally, the court issued a permanent injunction restraining Nyanumba from collecting rent from the property and directed the Deputy Registrar to notify ABSA Bank that the land cannot be used as collateral, owing to the invalidity of the plaintiff’s title.

The court fully allowed the defendant’s counterclaim and ordered Nyanumba to pay legal costs jointly and severally.

The dispute dates back to 2014 when Nyanumba filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction to bar Nyaanga from accessing or interfering with the property and sought general damages for alleged trespass and demolition.

In his defense, Nyaanga, through his lawyer Omaiyo Mogaka, argued that he had been in uninterrupted possession of the property for decades before being forcibly evicted by Nyanumba in 2014.

He claimed the plaintiff illegally took over the land, destroyed the perimeter fence, and erected his own structures.

While testifying in court, Nyaanga challenged the validity of the plaintiff’s title deed, insisting it could not be found in official records and had been fraudulently obtained.

“I was allocated Plot No. 58, now known as Parcel 492, and paid Kshs. 760. Although I no longer have the receipt, the process would not have advanced without payment,” he told the court during cross-examination.