Reprieve as former JM Kariuki's dancers get 90-acre land despite losing court case

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Former dancers who recently lost a land case against the family of JM Kariuki, the former Nyandarua North MP, have gotten a reprieve after the family gifted them part of the 808-acre land. 

The 330 squatters, dubbed Nyakinyua Ndorua farmers, were facing eviction from part of JM’s land in Ol-Kalou, which they had occupied for over 50 years, alongside their descendants.

However, JM’s family gifted the squatters a 90-acre piece of land, excised from the entire family property.

The donation came after the former dancers and the family struck a deal that would see them continue occupying part of the land they had called home for decades.

According to Martha Wangeci, one of the descendants of the dancers, the family had lost hope after the eviction order was issued by the court in April this year.

“We had no place to go because we were born here and our parents who occupied this place informed us that this was our home,” said Wangeci.

Another descendant Nicholas Mwangi said that the decision by the court was heartbreaking but he was glad that JM’s family showed them mercy.

Noting that many dancers had died, Mwangi said that the descendants could finally live in peace, within the piece of land they had been gifted.

Wanjiku Ndung’u, JM’s niece, said that they came to the decision to continue in JM’s humane spirit to his staff, dancers and supporters.

She called upon the county government of Nyandarua to facilitate provision of basic social amenities in the area.

She also appealed to the national government to help the 330 squatters, in processing individual title deeds in order to enable them to settle comfortably.

The resolution comes just two months after the court ordered the eviction of the 330 dancers and their descendants, plus at least 200 more from the 808-acre land.

In April, this year, Nyandarua’s land court Judge Joseph Mugo ended a 53-year-old dispute, locking 580 squatters, who included the dancers.

The group wanted to be declared owners, claiming that JM had gifted them the land in 1973.

“We should alternatively be declared owners under adverse possession, having occupied the land for over 12 years,” they submitted.

However, Judge Mugo ruled that JM’s widows Doris Nyambura and her co-widows Esther Mwikali and Terry Wanjiru were the real owners of the property alongside their kin.

He termed the 580 as trespassers in JM’s land since September 28, 1988, when the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal over the possession of the land.

The judge ruled that although JM wanted to give the dancers his land, the process of transfer was never completed before his death.

“From previous judgements, it is clear that JM died before transferring the land to the group,” ruled Mugo.

Mugo called the 580 strangers, because they failed to provide a list of the dancers and their descendants. 

Further, the court declared that Mugo’s dancers were women and since those who moved to court were mostly men, the same casted doubt on the genuineness of the group.

On the adverse possession claim, Mugo ruled that the 580 could only be declared owners under the same, if they occupied the land without permission from JM. 

However, he noted that the members, including officials, admitted that the late MP allowed them to occupy the land on the promise that they would settle a loan owed to the Settlement Fund Trustees and Agricultural Finance Corporation.