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| Mr Malcolm Bell |
Friday, October 25, 2013
In Summary
By WANJIRU MACHARI
The
farmer who won a landmark land case against former President Daniel
arap Moi on Friday said he could not rule out the possibility of selling
the 100 acres at Kabarak to the retired leader.
Mr
Malcolm Bell, a 64-year-old rancher, was speaking to the Saturday Nation
just a day after five Supreme Court judges put an end to the 10-year
battle by endorsing a Court of Appeal order directed at Mr Moi.
Reporter: “You had said that your land was not up for sale to Mr Moi or anyone else. Do you still maintain that stand?”
Mr
Bell: “Things change and nothing is forever. However, I cannot talk
about any transactions right now because of personal issues.”
On
the judges’ decision, an elated Mr Bell said: “My 10-year-long fight
for justice is finally over. I am very happy that the truth has finally
prevailed. I always knew that I would win because I was right.”
He
added: “I had been treated wrongly and pushed around for too long but,
being a strong believer in the truth and fairness, I was sure that the
law would be on my side.”
On Thursday, judges Kalpana
Rawal, Philip Tunoi, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndung’u
ruled in his favour — giving him back his 100 acres. (READ: Moi loses battle for Kabarak land)
ENJOYED IMMUNITY
“It
has taken 10 years to reclaim my father’s land because, as much as I
would have wanted to sue Moi earlier, I was barred by the Constitution,
as he enjoyed immunity as the President,” the rancher said.
Efforts
to settle the matter out of court dating as far back as 2003 had
failed, as Mr Bell was faced with threats and intimidation at a time
when security officers had been sent to guard the land day and night.
“I
am happy because the truth has finally come out. That is all that I
wanted and it should be known that there is no bad blood between me and
the Mois. We shall remain good neighbours,” Mr Bell said on the phone
from Malindi, where he is visiting his wife. He attributed the win to
the firm support of his family, friends and lawyers, “who stood by me
and gave me proper guidance.”
The only son of Ginger
and Margaret Bell — who gets upset at being referred to as a white
settler — reiterated that he is a Kenyan, born in Mombasa and brought up
in Nakuru.
“I went to local schools and only went to
Europe at university level to study agricultural engineering,” says the
rancher, whose mother was born in Rongai and ran a butchery in Mombasa.
Mr
Bell went to Nakuru Primary School (the current Nakuru Boys’ High
School) before joining the Duke of York School (currently Lenana High
School).
His mother was buried at the Nakuru North Cemetery, while his father’s remains were interred at his farm in Rongai.
The father of four daughters, all of whom are abroad, is a rancher, while his wife manages family businesses at the Coast.
Mr
Bell and Mr Moi are immediate neighbours on opposite sides of the
Nakuru-Mogotio road in the Kabarak, and both own large tracts of land.
The former President has 1,080 acres (437.06 hectares), while Mr Bell commands 1,200 acres (485.6ha).
According
to the rancher, Mr Moi entered into a deal with his father (Ginger) in
the 1980s to connect electricity, drill a borehole and construct a
cattle dip in exchange for 100 acres of land.
“Of the
1,200 acres my father, who died in 1997, hived off 100 acres for Mr Moi,
but the former President failed to meet his end of the deal,” the
farmer said.
He recalled that he had been warned that
his entire land would be taken away if he pursued the matter. He decided
to bid his time until Mr Moi retired and no longer enjoyed immunity
from prosecution.
Mr Bell sued Mr Moi for trespass soon
after he left office in 2003, but Nakuru High Court Judge Muga Apondi
dismissed the case three years later.
Not one to easily
give up, Mr Bell moved to the Court of Appeal in 2007 and, after a
protracted battle, judges Martha Koome and Hannah Okwengu overturned
Judge Apondi’s decision in August last year and ordered Mr Moi to vacate
the land within six months.
But the battle did not end there as Mr Moi challenged the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Supreme Court.
END TO THE MATTER
On Thursday, the highest court in the land put an end to the matter by handing the land back to Mr Bell.
Mr
Bell is loved and hated in equal measure by his neighbours and
employees, with some accusing him of blocking access to their farms.
An
immediate neighbour of the Bells on the western side of his vast farm,
Mr Silas Kandie, claimed that Mr Bell had erected a gate on the Murang’a
Lane — blocking access to his farm.
“I wanted to construct a house last year, but I cannot access my land,” Mr Kandie said.
WAY-LEAVE PERMISSION
Residents
of the former Jack Evans Settlement Scheme, who use Murang’a Lane, also
claimed that Mr Bell had denied them way-leave permission for
electricity connection. The nearest transformer is in Mr Bell’s land.
However,
Mr Bell dismissed the allegation, saying the road passed through his
land and he had good relations with his neighbours.
A
former employee of the rancher, Mr Ngugi Gicheha, said Mr Bell bought
the two-kilometre-long land from a Mr Jack Mann and converted it into a
road.
“There was no road there. But because Bell wanted
an access road, he bought the land from Jack Mann, and he has a right
to do whatever he wants with it because he holds its title.
“However, he is good enough to allow the residents to use it,” Mr Gicheha said.
Meanwhile,
Kabarak High School principal Henry Kiplangat on Friday said the
institution and Kabarak University were not affected by the ruling.
In
a notice to be published in the Daily Nation on Monday, Mr Kiplangat
said the land “that was previously in dispute is opposite the Kabarak
learning institutions and the high school is cultivating food crops on
it.”
He said the land dispute had been settled amicably.
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