Businessman 'clears' CS Karoney of blame in land row

Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney at her Ardhi House office in Nairobi on February 19, 2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kipchumba said he inherited the property registered as Nandi/ Kamoywo 760 from his late parents.
  • Kipchumba accused the Korir’s of having hatched a plan to frustrate him over the ownership of the land.

A land row pitting Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney and a family in Kamoiywo, Nandi County, took a new twist after the man at the centre of the dispute spoke for the first time.

Mr Linus Kipchumba, a businessman, gave a detailed account of how he sold the property, absolving Ms Karoney from blame.

He said Ms Karoney legally bought the 17-acre parcel of land from him. 

Mr Kipchumba added that the family of Athletics Kenya Youth Development Programmes chairman Barnabas Korir, which has been laying claim to the land located on Kimondi River in Chesumei, are his distant relatives.

“I was the real owner of this land until November last year when I sold it to Ms Karoney, and I don’t understand why she is being dragged into this matter since we completed the transaction,” Mr Kipchumba said.

Addressing journalists at Kapsisiwa, he said he inherited the property registered as Nandi/ Kamoywo 760 from his deceased parents.

“I inherited two plots and followed all the steps as required by law when acquiring the title deeds. I sold the one under controversy to Ms Karoney,” he said.

Documents seen by Nation at the Lands Registry in Kapsabet bear the name of Linus Kipchumba Kogo as the previous bona fide owner of the land.

Mr Kipchumba accused the Korir’s of having hatched a plan to frustrate him over the ownership of the land.

However, Mr Korir said they have documents showing the land belonged to them.

He said the initial owner, a Maria Chelagat, who passed away, sold it to their father, Mr Abraham Titomet Korir, in 1968.

“Our father bought it from the late Maria and it was only recently fenced off forcefully after the CS wrongfully obtained the said title deed,” Mr Korir said in an interview with Nation.