By Education News Reporter
Koroto Secondary school in Baringo North is counting losses after a Court ruled against them in a controversial land dispute with a resident family.
The Iten Environment and Lands Court in Elgeyo-Marakwet county made the landmark ruling against their favor on Monday.
The grieving family made history by burying their deceased kin inside their ancestral land which had also been claimed by the school in April last year.
Traditionally, the family buried the body of their kin Paul Kipchabas, 65, a retired police officer outside his house where the newly established Koroto secondary school sat, but it was exhumed following a court order on April 9, 2021.
Immediately after the exhumation, the school management installed a plastic tank to harvest rain water on top of the man’s open grave.
While still alive, the late Kipchabas had sued the school management for what he termed as ‘maliciously grabbing, encroaching and developing his land’ before dying of blood pressure.
However Kipkemboi Arap Bartuos with 13 family members moved a petition in court against five respondents including Bartum Land Adjudication Section (BLAS) and 30 interested parties.
In her 24-page ruling, Iten Court Judge Lucy Waithaka turned down the respondents after she ascertained that indeed they adjudicated, demarcated and allocated land to public and private individuals without a legitimate administrative action.
She further granted permanent injunction restraining the respondents, the school board and all the interested parties from registering, dealing or engaging in construction activities in the school compound or evicting the petitioners from their ancestral parcel of land.
Waithaka also declared the purported adjudication and registration of BLAS as illegal, null and void saying that no demarcation had been carried out either back in 1983, 1984, 2015, 2018 or any other time thereafter.
“Having read and considered the evidence adduced in this case by the parties, I entertain no doubt that the petitioners have identifiable stake in the subject matter of this suit,” she said.
She argued that the BLAS parcel of land measuring 17.504.80 hectares was set aside and registered as plot number one to cater for 821 members of the entire Bartum Adjudication section.
But instead of consulting, the group range chairman Ryamond Chelimo went ahead to unlawfully annex a section of the land and allocated to private individuals.
“Under the land adjudication act the only way Ryamond would have subdivided the land set aside for all residents was if it was demonstrated to this court that he was an overall agent or a guardian to all the beneficiaries,” she said.
In view of this, Waithaka said she found that there was no compliance with the law in carrying out the impugned demarcation, whether carried out any day between 1983 to date and any time thereafter.
She also said told the court that they learned about the impugned demarcation in 2020 and therefore she found the delay of the case well-explained and excusable.
The judge however ordered the respondents to meet the petitioners cost of suit.
The aggrieved family have also tabled an appeal to the same court praying to be granted order to rebury their deceased member in his ancestral land, located in the school compound.
“We have appealed in the same court requesting to grant us order to rebury the body of our brother Paul in his original grave,” David Rutto, family member said.
“I would just wish to view the body of my son, escort him to rest in his original grave so my heart can relax,” the deceased’s mother, Targok Kipchabas, 86, said.
Last week, the body which had overstayed in Baringo Referral Hosptial mortuary since April last year was about to be disposed to the public cemetery with 40 others owing to court orders but the family intervened and was able to have it retained.
