Malindi — A close relative of former US President Barack Obama is embroiled in a land ownership dispute with a German national within the Kilifi/Jimba settlement scheme in Kilifi County.
Rita Auma Obama, a half-sister to Obama, is indicated in the Kilifi Lands Registry as the sole owner of a 3.2-acre beach plot, which is also claimed by Carina Properties Limited, a real estate company owned by the German national, Karin Gansfort.
Gansfort, who is a widow, has threatened to move to court to challenge the decision by the Lands ministry to expunge Carina Properties Limited from the land register (green card) in favour of Obama without following due process.
She reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Watamu where she has been forced to record several separate statements since 2018 following the transfer of two officers, and she is worried she may not get justice through the DCI.
Speaking to journalists at the disputed land, Ms Gansfort claimed that she acquired the land after Mr. Peter Ngunje, a Watamu based contractor and real estate developer, sold his shares in Carina Properties Limited, which owned the property.
She however said she discovered that the land had "illegally and irregularly" been transferred to Ms Obama when she conducted a search at the Lands Registry in Kilifi in 2018, and wondered how that could happen without her company being involved.
"I immediately reported the matter to the DCI to investigate the circumstances that informed the decision to expunge the land records, but there has not been any progress to date. I have had to record three statements on the matter following the transfers of the officers and I do not believe I will get justice," she said.
Ngunje, who flanked Ms Gansfort, said Carina Properties Limited bought the land from Lilian Uchi and Ndarewa Munyesi in 2007 and was issued with a title deed on July 23, 2007.
He said he was taken aback when in 2018 it was discovered that the land register (green card) had been altered, with the name of Carina Properties Limited expunged and replaced by that of Lois Wambui Thuo and Auma Rita Obama.
"When we discovered that the records had been altered, we reported to the DCI in Watamu for investigations but we have been forced to record new statements after the officers got transferred to other stations," he said.
Records availed to this writer indicate that the land, which was initially owned by the Government of Kenya was allocated to Lilian Uchi and Ndarewa Muyesi, and a title deed issued on November 6, 2002.
The plot then exchanged hands to Carina Properties Limited, which was issued with a title deed on July 23, 2007.
However, the initial owners (Uchi and Muyeshi) and Carina properties Limited were expunged from the land register on December 13, 2016 vide a letter from the Chief Lands Registrar dated December 1, 2016.
The green card indicates (in hand-written entry 7) that title deed number 1476827 was issued to Lois Wambui Thuo and Auma Rita Obama on December 12, 2016 before the land became the sole property of Ms Obama on July 6, 2020.
It is however not indicated in the green card from whom Lois Wambui Thuo and Ms Obama acquired the land, and the matter has been the subject of investigations by DCI officers in Watamu, Kilifi County since 2019.
Documents in our possession indicate that the Kilifi County Land Registrar acted on instructions from then Chief Lands Registrar to expunge the records after Principal Land Adjudication and Settlement Officer Peter K. Waithaka requested the Chief Lands Registrar to instruct the Kilifi registrar to do so.
Initially, the then County Lands Registrar Joseph T. Bao, had declined to grant a request to register certain documents provided by the then Director of Lands Adjudication and Settlement since there was an active land register (green card).
A letter dated November 21, 2016, Mr. Bao said in part. "We are unable to register (the) documents. This is because there is an old active land register (Green Card) with various transactions. Attached please find a certified copy of the same for your information and advice."
On November 30 the same year, Mr. Waithaka wrote an internal memo to the Chief Lands Registrar asking the registrar to instruct the County Lands Registrar, Kilifi, to expunge Carina Properties Limited from the records, after introducing new original allottees.
"The said plot was originally allocated to Anderson Nyundo Thoya (former Watamu Councillor) and Daniel Kazungu Kombe, who in turn sold it to Lois Wambui Thuo and Auma Rita Obama.
"Carina Properties Limited are therefore not known to this office and you are requested to instruct the County Lands Registrar, Kilifi, to expunge the same from the records," the memo said.
Waithaka said the genuine records of discharge of charge and transfer had been forwarded to the Kilifi registrar vide a letter from his office dated November 18, 2016.
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"Kindly have the said documents effected in favour of the current owners," Mr. Waitkaka said in the memo.
The green card does not have any record of Anderson Nyundo Thoya (the former Councillor) and Daniel Kazungu Kombe.
However, a letter dated November 28, 2016 from the then District Land Adjudication and Settlement Officer, Mr. James G. Kamau that was addressed to the Director of Lands Adjudication and Settlement indicates the duo as the original allottees.
"From our records, the plot was allocated to Anderson Nyundo Thoya and Daniel Kazungu and was letter transferred to Lois Wambui Thuo and Auma Rita Obama," the letter said in part.
Independent investigations have revealed that Carina Properties Limited used to pay rates for the piece of land up to 2018 when it was discovered that the land had been transferred to another owner.
Contacted for comment on her mobile phone number 0724048491, Ms Obama confirmed that she has a land dispute in Watamu and referred journalists to her lawyer, Mr. Maurice Kilonzo.
Kilonzo however told reporters that he was representing Ms Obama on a different land matter - a boundary dispute between her on Plot Number Kilifi/Jimba 347 (the disputed land) and the owner of plot number Kilifi/Jimba 346, which he said had already been resolved.
