Hundreds of houses, mosques, churches and schools face demolition following a court declaration that a contested 300 acres inhabited by the area residents belong to a posh hotel situated in Diani Beach.
More than 700 residents with title deeds to prove ownership of the disputed land staged protests against the ruling, lamenting that they were not given a chance to defend their property.
Leisure Lodge Hotel went to court to challenge the government’s decision to settle landless citizens on the land.
The residents now claim the land rightly belongs to them following an intriguing revelation from their spokesperson.
“We exchanged our land with Leisure Lodge. We gave the hotel our 93 acres at the beach to build a golf course and it gave us 300 acres,” stated the residents’ spokesperson Shee Mwamindi.
Mr Mwamindi also stated that the case was between the hotel owner and the State and that they were not involved.
A gazette notice issued on July 9, 2010, shows that the government gave the land to squatters. Some sold it to third parties who have since developed the land.
Property worth millions of shillings have been affected by the ruling.
Speaking to the press, the hotel’s General Manager, John Mutua, praised the ruling noting, “Justice has finally prevailed and triumphed after 17 years of court battles. The judgment is elaborate and speaks for itself."
