• Stephen Sugut claims the land was irregularly and fraudulently auctioned on claims that he defaulted in repayment of a loan he took from the ICDC.
• He is said to have borrowed the money from ICDC 27 years ago to carry out mega income generating farming activities on the property.
Image: BY MATHEWS NDANYI
A former security aide of former President Daniel Moi is entangled in a court battle to save his land and home that were auctioned because of a debt.
The land measuring 63 acres and the home located next to Moi's Bridge town in Uasin Gishu are valued at more than Sh300 million.
The property was auctioned due to a Sh10 million debt he owed the then Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).
The former aide Stephen Sugut, through his lawyer Tecla Tum, claims the land was irregularly and fraudulently auctioned on claims that he defaulted in repayment of a loan he took from the ICDC.
He grows coffee, maize and rears dairy cows on the prime agricultural land.
The land in dispute is registered as LR No Uasin Gishu/EL-AHRE/40.
Sugut appeared before Justice Robert Wananda of the High Court in Eldoret and he is seeking to cancel the auction. He also wants to stop eviction by a firm which claims it bought the land through an auction.
Sugut argues that the charge, sale and transfer of the property to Wakarima Investment Company was fraudulent.
He is said to have borrowed the money from ICDC 27 years ago to carry out mega income generating farming activities on the property.
According to court documents, the repayment agreement entered between Sugut and the lender was to service the loan within 60 months.
He, however, along the way failed to service the loan, prompting the lender to instruct Joyland Auctioneer to recover the loan through a public sale.
Sugut then moved to court to challenge the auction, saying the government agency had undervalued the property by selling it to Wakarima Investment Limited for Sh7 million.
"My land was grossly undervalued and sold out fraudulently in a manner that was aimed to take it away from me," he argues.
Sugut also says that he was not informed or issued with any notices by the ICDC.
He told the court that he was not issued with the required notification of sale of the assets and there was no public auction.
Sugut has faulted the ICDC for disposing of his property to Wakarima Investment Company Limited.
He says the Soy Subcounty Land Control Board should have been informed one month before on the said auction as required by the law.
Sugut also argues that the ICDC ignored an earlier court order stopping any sale of the land.
“I believe that ICDC did not act in good faith and I urge this court to enter judgment in my favour,” he says.
Sugut wants the court to dismiss buyer’s counterclaim to the effect that they bought the land through due process devoid of fraud.
In its defence, Wakarima Investment Company Limited wants the court to compel Sugut to vacate the land or pay compensation of Sh50 million to the firm.
The company says Sugut had stopped them from taking over the land for more than 20 years.
The firm argues that the compensation arose from the loss of investment opportunities among other benefits after Sugut chased them away from the land when they sought to occupy it after the auction.
The firm says it purchased the land in 2004 but had been unable to use it hence the demand for compensation.
The company in court papers argues that despite a court ruling that was delivered in its favour on July 16, 2020, blocking Sugut from trespassing on the land, he has continued to occupy the same illegally.
The investment company insists it bought the land through an open public sale.
It adds that despite acquiring title deed to the suite property upon discharge of interim orders from the court on October 22, 2007, it has never accessed the land since then.
Justice Wananda is set to deliver his judgment on the dispute on May 24, 2024.