The estate of former Kimilili MP the late Suleiman Murunga suffered a blow after a judge dismissed a petition seeking to be declared the legal owner of a disputed prime plot on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi.
The land in question is where the popular Simmers restaurant once stood.
Justice Oguttu Mboya further ordered the estate of Murunga, who died in October 2024 to clear unpaid rent amounting to Sh22.4 million, to Nilestar Holdings Ltd the owners of the land.
The Environment and Land Court judge dismissed claims that Murunga had been allocated the land by the National Land Commission (NLC) in 2011, when the lease issued to Nilestar Holdings expired, saying the allotment was illegal.
This was because Nilestar Holdings had started the process of renewing its lease.
“In the absence of a certificate of title, issued to and in favour of the plaintiff (Murunga) here-in, the claim by and on behalf of the plaintiff to be the legal owner of the suit property is therefore misconceived and legally unten-able. Instructively, the claim herein is built on quicksand,” said the judge.
Murunga filed the case in 2013 seeking to be declared the legal owner of the two plots, arguing that the landlord/tenant relationship ceased to exist once the lease issued to Nilestar Holdings expired in 2009.
Murunga sought a permanent injunction restraining Nilestar Holdings, Green Valley Ltd and its directors from interfering with his possession of the land or demanding rent against him.
Murunga also sought an order declaring the commission’s move to withdraw his letter of allotment in February 2016 irregu-lar.
He was kicked out of the disputed plot in 2018 and the once popular drinking joint – Simmers was flattened after years of court battles.
In a separate case, he sought compensation aver the demolition of Simmers.
The land is owned by former finance minister Arthur Magugu.
Magugu’s widow Margaret Magugu under Nilestar Holdings filed the suit.
Murunga said the restaurant then had over 67 employees and enjoyed prominence as one of the major outlets of alcoholic products, with several awards.
Murunga had leased the land since 1997 from Nilestar Holdings as Green Valley Ltd, a company being fought over by the family of former Finance minister Arthur Magugu and businessman Madatah Hasham Ebraham.
He said Nilestar’s 99-year lease expired on December 31, 2009, and despite application for renewal, it was not granted by the Commissioner of Lands. In 2011, he applied and was allotted the property.
“Upon compliance with the said terms I contend that I ceased being a tenant in the suit premises and became a legal and/or beneficial owner,” he says in an affidavit.
Consequently, he stopped paying rent to Nilestar Holdings, whose directors were aware of the change of ownership. He in 2013 successfully got orders stopping the attachment of his property by the previous owners who were claiming rent of Sh1.62 million.
But shortly after the ruling was delivered, the National Land Commission (NLC) purported to withdraw an allotment letter issued to him.
The letter was subsequently used as a basis for seeking a review of the ruling and lift the injunction placed on the eviction of Murunga from the premises.
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