A former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MP has lost a prime piece of land to a women's group after a seven-year battle in court.
On Wednesday, December 16, High Court Judge Nelly Matheka ruled that the sale of the land in Kakamega County to former Lurambi MP Atanas Manyala Keya in 2013 was illegal.
Keya had purchased the land at Ksh 7.3 million from members of the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO).
However, the board of the trustees of MYWO filed a suit in 2015 to block the deal and also sought orders to recover the land.
They also alleged that the former lawmaker threatened to evict the women from the land.
Matheka said that the members of the women group who authorised the sale had no capacity to enter into any sale agreement.
"I find that the purported sale was illegal and fraudulent and therefore null and void. The interested party ought to have exercised due diligence.
"It is clear therefore that it is only the trustees who had the authority to dispose of immovable property belonging to the plaintiff, and therefore I grant the order of cancellation of Keya as the registered proprietor of the suit property," Matheka stated.
She added that the court restituted the property to the women group.
The former MP argued that he legally bought from the members of the women group.
Keya was a one-term MP for Lurambi between 2007 and 2013.
