A story is told of a butcher's son who fought and defeated former President Daniel Moi in the battle for a 100-acre piece of land in Kabarak, Nakuru county.
Malcolm Bell, son to butcher-cum-rancher Ginger Bell, made history as the first person to defeat the retired head of state in a court battle, managing to reclaim the land grabbed from his family in the 1980s.
Moi reportedly took the property from the Bell's during his tenure as the head of state, after breaching an agreement that would see him help connect their 1, 200 acre farm to electricity, build a cattle dip and a bore hole, deciding to instead allocate himself a piece of the land adjacent to the Moi High School Kabarak.
After his father's death in 1997, the younger Bell decided to fight for the part of his family's heritage, a struggle whose success was next to impossible as Moi was in power and was, therefore, enjoying protection.
His first attempt was thrashed in 2006 when High Court judge Muga Apondi gave the land to Moi and his Kabarak High School through adverse possession.
An appeal in 2012, however, worked in his favor, when Justices Hannah Okwengu and Martha Koome ordered Moi out of the land in six months or face eviction.
Moi's attempts to appeal the case at the Supreme Court proved futile after a 5-judge bench consisting Judges Mohammed Ibrahim, Njoki Ndung'u, Philip Tunoi, Smokin Wanjala and Kalpana Rawaal, in October 2013, refused to listen to the case, upholding the Court of Appeal's decision.
''It is our view that this matter was well settled and does not qualify to be entertained before us,'' the bench was quoted by the Nation.