Uchumi Supermarket Risks Losing Part of Kshs 2.4 bn Worth of Land to Squatters

During the week, there were further developments on the court case for the disputed 20-acre parcel in Kasarani area belonging to Uchumi Supermarkets.

The retail chain accused a self-help group by the name Njathaini Electricity Project of trying to acquire the parcel valued at 2.4 billion shillings as at June 2016 through adverse possession. The self-help group claimed to be squatters on the parcel legally registered to Kasarani Mall Limited for over 30-years.

The contentious issue is deciding which court order prevails whereby a court order issued in 2011 had directed the squatters to be barred from accessing the property. However, in December last year, a court order was given preventing Uchumi from accessing the land on the basis that the self-help group had been on the land for more than 12-years.

By law, adverse possession is a legal right through which a person can legally acquire for free property they have, without interruption from registered owners, occupied continuously for 12-years without interruption by the registered owners of land.

The conditions to this is proving beyond reasonable doubt that:

1. The possessors entered the property without legal title,
2. The registered land owner must have been aware and most importantly,
3. The legal owner did not interrupt their stay over the 12-years.

This is by the Law of Limitations Act and ignorance of law is never an excuse and limitation. Going by this, there is a high probability that land grabbers prey on peoples’ land especially if the registered owners don’t live on it. Persons in the diaspora and those with vast parcels of land may fall victim to this.

Fortunately, this can always be resolved by the registered owner filing for legal suits before the expiry of the 12-years seeking the eviction of the trespassers.

The most assured way to avoid such encroachment is to ensure that:

1. Land is always secured by boundaries,
2. continuous presence of a guard or caretaker on the land.

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