This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
On July 10, 2020, a court order was issued to Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko, preventing him from demolishing homes in the Ngong Forest area.
The order was obtained by a number of Lang'ata residents who claimed that their homes were being targeted for demolition due to allegations that they were built on grabbed land.
However, the residents argued that they had obtained their title deeds lawfully and that the plans by the CS and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to demolish their homes were illegal.
One of the residents, Mr. Kagwanja Thuo, stated that he had purchased his parcel of land from Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri in 2006 and had since built a house.
Thuo claimed that the CS's allegations that the titles were illegally obtained were baseless and that the court should intervene.
The KMA Lang'ata Residents Welfare Association also stated that they had purchased their parcel of land between 1998 and 2001 and had sub-divided it into 113 plots.
Before the sub-division, they had applied and obtained the requisite approvals from the lands office and the defunct city council and had paid all the charges as required.
