Wilson Airport. Photo/the-star.co.kr
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has lost a protracted legal battle to the The Africa Inland Church (AIC) over a 0.8 acre piece of land bordering Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.Lucy Gacheru High Court judge found that the AIC acquired the land and its title deed lawfully, and ordered the KAA and a number of businessmen operating on the disputed property to vacate and allow unconditional possession by the church.The KAA had claimed that the disputed 0.8 acre land is part of 404.43 acres issued to Wilson Airport in 1996.However, Justice Gacheru has ruled that the AIC acquired a valid title deed to the parcel six years before Wilson Airport was issued with ownership documents for the 404.43 acres adjacent to the disputed property.AIC’s attempt to evict a section of businessmen that had rented space on the 0.8 acres sparked an ownership battle Upon suing to evict the businessmen, the KAA laid claim on the property, arguing that it is gazetted as aerodrome land issued to Wilson Airport.“Though the KAA alleged that the AIC’s title was acquired illegally, there was no evidence of such illegality. The Ministry of Lands vide its letter dated November 18, 2011 confirmed that the AIC’s title was genuine and further the Commissioner of Lands vide its letter dated March 4, 2010 also confirmed the authenticity of the AIC’s title”.Justice Gacheru ruled.“There was no evidence that this suit land had also been allotted to the KAA or the same was carved from the land that had been allotted to the KAA. The court finds that there is no evidence of any double allocation as submitted by the KAA. In any event even if there was double allocation, the AIC’s land was the first to be registered and therefore as equity provides the first in time prevails.”