A Former Cabinet Minister Regains Access to His Property
Former Cabinet Minister Raphael Tuju has finally regained access to his Dari Business Park in Karen, which had been under a 24-hour police barricade for several weeks. This development comes after a court directive that grants him the right to occupy the property while preventing any planned sale or transfer until an ongoing dispute is resolved.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the former minister expressed his intention to reside at the property in accordance with the court order and requested that the police stay away. “After all, they illegally raided my premises, they assaulted me, and they or their masters cannot be my friends. If these are the type of people who claim to be my friends, I would rather be with my enemies,” he said.
Tuju emphasized that he will only vacate the premises if a valid court order instructs otherwise. He stated, “The police should only be on site to enforce court orders, not to be part of a land grab operation. According to the latest court rulings, this is my property. The police cannot come to evict me without a valid court order. If they produce such a court order, I will obey.”
Legal Dispute Over a Loan
Tuju has been involved in a long-standing legal battle over an auction related to an alleged failure to repay a Sh1.9 billion loan borrowed from the East African Development Bank (EADB) in 2015. The initial loan amount was USD 9,197,084 (Sh1.2 billion), with the remaining amount accruing in interest.
He claims that the court has provided him with the latest relief in the orders he cited: “THAT pending the hearing and determination of this application, there shall be an order preserving the substratum of the dispute, and accordingly, there shall be no sale, transfer, assignment, alienation, charge, lease, disposal, or in any manner whatsoever dealing with the title and/or ownership of the suit property (L.R. No. 11320/3 and L.R. No. 1055/165) until further orders of the Court.” Justice Moses Ado issued the latest orders on March 18.
Ownership and Control Dispute
The dispute involves Dari Limited and Tuju on one side, and Garam Investment Auctioneers, Knight Frank Valuers Limited, and other respondents on the other, over the ownership and control of the prime properties identified as L.R. No. 11320/3 and L.R. No. 1055/165.
Tuju, through his lawyers, had made an urgent oral application seeking temporary orders to restrain what he described as the unlawful occupation of the properties by police officers. Last month, he wrote to Inspector General Douglas Kanja protesting what he describes as an unlawful police occupation of Dari Business Park, claiming that more than 100 police officers raided the premises in the early hours of March 13 without a court order.