Eldoret Express Claws Back 640-Acre Land After 13-Year Battle

Transport firm Eldoret Express has secured a win in its long-running court battle to secure a 640-acre piece of land it lost in Trans Nzoia in the aftermath of the 2007/08 Post Election Vįolence (PEV). Known for its famous buses, the company has drastically reduced its fleet and scaled down operations in the last decade.

The Supreme Court issued a ruling effectively barring a land-buying company, Tawai Ltd, from filing a second appeal following a Court of Appėal decision that established Eldoret Express as the owners of the parcel. Tawai Ltd represents over 1,000 squatters.

The Court of Appėal judgment dated November 28, 2019 declared Eldoret Express the legal owner of the land.

“It is clear to us that the applicant has not laid any basis, upon which this Court should review its ruling. We find that the application for a second review is not merited,” the five-judge Supreme Court bench led by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu found.

A prior March 17 ruling by the apex court had upheld the Appelate Court decision stating that it did not require the Supreme Court’s intervention. Tawai Ltd challenged this ruling arguing that it contravened Article 50 of the Constitution on fair hearing.

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Their lawyers cited “whimsical exercise of the top court’s discretion, which failed to appreciate that mortgages, leases and charges are areas of public importance, transcending this particular case”.

In June, Eldoret Express had gotten the court’s approval to get the support of police officers to enforce the court orders by evicting the squatters. Eldoret Express instructed a firm – Seventy Seven Auctioneers – to help them take control of the land but noted that they needed police protection.

“As it is evident from the affidavit evidence presented by both sides that the Defendant (Tawai) has a sizeable number of people on the suit property, I agree with the Plaintiff (Eldoret Express) that it would be desirable to have the law enforcement agencies in the County to be involved in the eviction exercise, through the provision of security, and overseeing of the plaintiff taking possession of the suit property, so as to ensure law and order is maintained by all,” the court ruled.

The protracted legal battle was centred on the existence of two title deeds for the piece of land. Eldoret Express noted that the squatters took advantage of the 2007/08 PEV to take over the land ,which the bus firm bought from Kaitet Tea Estates for Ksh40 million in a transaction completed in 2001.

Tawai had claimed that they had been the registered owner of the land since 1976. They stated that they purchased the piece of land in 1974, and in 1981 took a loan from Kenya National Capital Corporation (KNCC) bank using the title as security. It got the title back in September 2008.

As the court observed, however, Tawai Limited had defaulted on the loan and the bank in exercise of its statutory power sub-divided the land and sold it. Kaitet Tea Estates, which later sold the land to Eldoret Express, bought the piece of land from the bank in 1987 at a cost of Ksh7.1 million.

“That evidence of transfer by private treaty in exercise of the chargee’s (bank) power of sale, which was then duly registered, passed a good title to Kaitet,” the Appellate judges found.

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