Court Orders Military to Takeover the Ksh1.5 Billion Embakasi land
The Kenya Army has been issued a reprieve after a court verdict awarded them orders to take over 90 acres of land in Embakasi, Nairobi.
Leah Mukangai 
The military was initially ordered to pay Ksh1.5 billion by the High Court in 2011 to a private corporation seeking ownership of the disputed property, but the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling.
However, after reviewing the evidence, the judges ruled that Torino Enterprises were not the legal holders of the land that the Kenya Army Mine Action Training Centre now occupies.
According to Justices Daniel Musinga, Agnes Murgor, and Jamilla Mohamed, the land was acquired illegally and belonged to the defunct Nairobi city council.
Media reports stated that the Commissioner of Lands sold the contested property to Renton Company Limited in December 1999 via an allotment letter.
The land was then sold to Torino Enterprises for Ksh12 million for a 99-year term two years later.
According to the court of appeal, it was unlawful for the Commissioner of Lands to have awarded the land to Renton.
"The Commissioner of Lands did not have authority in law to allot the land and therefore no valid interest on the same could be conferred upon Renton and subsequently to the respondent herein.
"The process leading to the acquisition of title by the respondent was flawed and tainted with illegality,” the judges remarked.
The military had been ordered by the High Court in 2011 to either surrender or pay Ksh1.5 billion to the private firm for the Embakasi property.
