The National Co-operative Housing Union (NACHU) Limited is at the centre of a land saga in Kiambu County, where it is accused of subdividing and selling a 402-acre parcel of land in Ruiru despite having not paid for it.
At the centre of the saga is former police commissioner Bernard Njiinu, who has been accused of irregularly transferring the land to NACHU.
Njiinu is a director at New Pillion Estates Limited, which is among 900 housing societies listed with NACHU.
According to People Daily, Parcel L.R No. 11295 (original No. 119/2, 4586 and 48930), is owned by New Pillion Estates Limited, whose shareholders include the late Peter Gicheru, late James Kamau Thiongo and John Kiereini Kireka.
New Pillion Estates Limited had entered an agreement to sell the land to NACHU for Ksh2,814,000,00 or Ksh7 million per acre on March 30, 2021.
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The sale agreement stipulates that NACHU was to pay 30 per cent upon carrying out a successful search at the registrar of companies, receiving audited copies of accounts for 2020 and actual returns and carrying out a search at the land registry.
Also, 10 percent was to be paid on or before May 7, 30 percent by June 30 and the balance of 30 per cent by July 31, 2021.
However, before the amount was paid, the land had been transferred to NACHU and Kiambu County government gave a permit for subdivision of the land.
Before members of the shareholders of New Pillion Estates Limited knew of the development, NACHU was already offering plots for sale to members of the public.
This prompted Mary Njoki Thuku, the widow of Stephen Thuku Mungara, to file a case at the Environment and Land Court in Thika. In the case, Ms Njoki wants NACHU barred from continuing with the sale until the case is heard and determined. Mungara, alongside Njiinu, are also shareholders at the New Pillion Estates Limited.
Read: 250 Acres of Grabbed Land Recovered in Kirinyaga after Court Battle
Court cases reveal that the title deed of the land is charged to a loan at Co-operative Bank, meaning that NACHU does not have titles for the parcels being sold to the public.
NACHU CEO Mary Mathenge says that the sale was in good faith, and that an escrow account had been opened to collect the amount until latest CR12 were out.
“New Pillion and NACHU have already opened the envisaged escrow Bank Account whose operationalization is being hampered by the lack of the Vendor’s CR 12 which the Bank has been calling for,” she averred.
Njiinu is accused of irregularly transferring the land to NACHU, without the knowledge of other shareholders.
Njiinu served as police commissioner from 1982 to 1988.
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