Gatundu residents and landowners have lost a case against Mama Ngina University through a court ruling delivered on Tuesday, February 22.
Through a ruling made by the Environment and Lands Court in Thika, they lost the case seeking to block the institution from acquiring their land for expansion.
The Court held that that the residents bypassed other avenues of resolving the dispute by rushing to court.
The court directed the matter to the National Lands Commission (NLC) land adjudication tribunal to give the final verdict on how the families will be relocated.
The residents of Mutomo area based in Gatundu South constituency had sued the national government for not conducting public participation before selecting their plots for acquisition.
The over 2,500 families had sued NLC, Ministry of Education, Commission for University Education, and Mama Ngina University college.
In their petition they wanted the national government to block the planned acquisition of the land noting that some of the owners of the pieces of land earmarked are elderly people adding that the land has over 100 graves.
They further detailed that some of them were not consulted in the process of placing their plots for compulsory acquisition.
The national government on the other hand released a gazette notice informing the families on the plan to acquire their land.
"In Pursuance of the Land Act, 2012 Part VIII, the National Land Commission (NLC) on behalf of Ministry of Education gives notice that the National Government intends to acquire the following parcels of land as additional land for Mama Ngina University College in Kiambu County," gazette notice released on September 27, 2021, read.
Following the ruling, the families have appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene on the matter arguing that they were being relocated to some unfavourable areas.
"We have never told where we are being relocated to. We are asking our president who comes from this village, goes to the same church as most of us to intervene," one of the residents stated.
