Did you know that as a resident of an area, you have a say in how a plot owner uses his or her land?
An ordinary citizen, Oscar Beauttah did not sit by helplessly while his community faced an injustice.
In 2008, Leah Ogwel, Maurice Ayugi, Duncan Ndegwa and Consolata Okeyo sued residents of Lang'ata's Ngei phase 2 for blocking them from putting up apartments.
The residents argued that the development would interfere with an open space that they used for recreation and which also served as a playground.
The four had received clearance from the authorities and not just the plans but also the money was ready to commence the development.
But Ngei Phase 2 Lang'ata Residents Association continued to stop them.
Fed up, the plot owners moved to court hoping to secure "a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants from interfering with their possession of the suit properties."
The residents, led by Oscar Kiragu Beauttah, said they were entitled to a say on how their environment would look like as well as preserve its social architecture for the benefit of society, including their children.
Beauttah, the father of Ellah, Eda and Winnie, died on March 4, 2020, aged 73. He succumbed to cancer while on treatment in Bangalore, India.
In the case, he filed the game-changing affidavit whose statements proved crucial in turning the case in their favour.
Beauttah told the court that during the construction of the estate in the '70s by the National Housing Corporation, "the topography in Ngei 2 presented difficulties with underground water and below surface rivers, and ...were not developed and were eventually left as an open ground."
"...and these were the swampy areas and/or storm carriage lines and some were eventually utilized to place underground sewage and drainage pipes."
Three of those open areas appear in the estate map, he said, and one of them is occupied on a temporary basis by Lang'ata Junior School with the approval of Ngei 2 Langata Residents Association.
The other two are similarly used by the school as playgrounds and the residents also use them for sports and recreation, including church meetings and weddings, he added.
The court agreed with the residents in a 2017 ruling, holding that if the four were to build on the land, the children and members of the community would be deprived of the benefit of the open space.
But this was not all. Beauttah was also embroiled in a tussle with Emanga Sameta Investments over Sh200 million land in Lang'ata.
As chairman of the board of Lang'ata High School, he fought hard to prevent the company from developing on land the administration said belonged to the institution.
The firm sued the school. In a sworn statement, Beauttah told the court the school had successfully applied for allocation of the land through the Treasury PS as the trustee.
Then Lands minister James Orengo cancelled the firm's land documents but the decision was reversed by the High court.
Beauttah is survived by his widow Eva. He was grandfather to Tefiro, Luide, Semakula, Eva, Maisara, Shufaa, Simon, Elizabeth, Catherine, Anthony and Paul.
The cortege will leave Montezuma Monalisa Funeral home today for a requiem mass at Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Karen at 10am and thereafter the burial will be at Lang’ata Cemetery.