A businesswoman is entangled in a protracted land dispute with businessman James Mwangi Gakuya.
Sylvia Merie is fighting to possess a land she claims is hers in a case filed by Gakuya at Milimani Commercial Courts.
Merie in an affidavit obtained from the court and seen our investigative team, she wants the court to throw out an application filed by Gakuya on the ground that it has no merit.
Gakuya in the application wants the court to issue an injunction against Merie who he accused of demolishing the structure he put on land under contention.
Merie, however, says that she possessed the suit land until February 2020 when she claims, Gakuya began trespassing into it and trying to construct structures.
“These were demolished severally until the Applicant obtained orders from this court on 21st September 2020,” Merie notes in the affidavit.
Marie argues that Gakuya’s assertion that he possessed the parcel of land since 1998 is a blatant lie calculated to distort the facts of the case.
She avers that Gakuya is claiming ownership of the land based on an allotment which according to law, she says, can not accord one such status.
“A Letter of Allotment does not pass or confer a good title to the property. Plaintiff/Applicant has failed to demonstrate that he indeed satisfied the conditions laid out in the letter of allotment as a first step towards becoming the registered proprietor of the suit property and the Plaintiff/Applicant has not established a prima with a probability of success,” she argues in the affidavit.
As such, Merie wants the case thrown out and Gakuya compelled to foot the cost of the suit.
“The Defendant/Respondent submits that the Plaintiff/Applicant has failed to meet the legal threshold required in granting injunctions and urge this court in the interests of justice equity and fairness to dismiss the application dated 18th September 2020 with costs,” she said.
In the case, Merie want the court to help her get justice in the case in which she accused Gakuya of grabbing her land
On Gakuya’s appeal to the court that the status quo on the land be maintained, Merie says:
“The status quo herein is what persisted before the wrongful act. The wrongful acts in this case are the illegal acts of trespass by the Plaintiff/Applicant into the Defendant/Respondent property.”
Merie in the affidavit also adds that she holds a certificate of title to the suit property and she is and is still the legal proprietor of the suit property.
She tells the court that she stands to be greatly disadvantaged if the court does not find it fit to tilt the balance of convenience on her favour.
The same court had earlier issued a directive against Gakuya stopping him from doing any construction on the saud parcel, selling, mortgaging, sub-dividing , transferring or doing any activity on the said land. Gakuyo had also filed an affidavit on disputing the orders but the Judge disimissed with cost due to lack of Merit
