MURANGA Kenya, Jan 2 – A farmers’ cooperative society in Murang’a county has decried the disappearance of their land court files.
The Board of Management at Samuru Gituto Cooperative Society, claims that they had court orders for cancellation of all title deeds owned by individuals who bought 301 acres of land owned by the society without shareholders consent.
According to the Chairman of the Society, George Kuria, in 2016 in a court of Appeal in Nairobi, the Cooperative won a court case they had appealed against individuals who had bought society’s land.
Kuria stated that after winning the case, the society, through their lawyer, started following up on the orders and presented them to the land registry to facilitate the cancellation of the title deeds issued to the individuals. However, the file has since been reported as missing, delaying the process.
He stated that due to this delayed process, some cartels have opened offices, where they are issuing fake share certificates for the same land, defrauding the genuine owners.
Kuria also said that the disappearance of the files has resulted in denying the society the chance to conduct their annual general meetings for members, adding that after complaining to the court registry, they were advised to reconstruct some of the files bearing the names of the individuals owning title deeds and title numbers so that another order can be issued.
The matter has since been reported to the Commissioner of Cooperatives and the Directorate, Criminal Investigation (DCI) in Murang’a and they are investigating the matter.
The directors advise the shareholders to be patient as they resolve the issue, promising them that by the end of January this year, everything will be in order, as they have reached out to the national and county governments for interventions.
