Group Conned Sh.80m Over Fake Thika Land Deal

Business at the busy lands office in Thika on Tuesday came to a halt when a group of about 100 people stormed in to demand title-deeds for a piece of land they had ‘bought’ from a certain land buying company in Nairobi.

It was alleged that DCEE Estate, a Nairobi-Based company, sold a non-existent land to this group and the directors later closed shop and eloped with the money.

When Dcee Self Help Group, with a membership of 500 members, set out to acquire a piece of land in 2011, they at no given time thought that it would lead to a hoax project.

It all started with an announcement over some Kikuyu vernacular radio of the now famous “Mburoti Maguta Maguta” (Hotcake plots for sale).

According to the advert, the plots, 50X100 in size, were in a very serene location next to Bufallo Hills Gated-Estate project near Kiganjo Estate in Thika. Each plot was going for a mere Sh. 100,000. To register with this ‘land buying company’ located on the 4^th Floor of Posta Plaza, one had to also part with Sh. 5,000.

The victims Chairman Mr. James Njoroge mobilized his group and registered for the said scheme. They were taken for a field visit and were satisfied with the site and the deal. It was then that they started paying for the plots. Within a short while, they had all completed paying for ‘their’ land.

Drama started when they started pursuing for their title-deeds.

“They have been dodging and tossing us around with all kinds of excuses. It is more than 5 years now but we have never gotten our documents. Efforts to be refunded our money have also hit a snag. Now they have closed down their offices and gone underground. We don’t know what to do,” said Njoroge. 

Thika Deputy County Commissioner Mr Tom Anjere cooled the storm but warned the members of public to be wary of these land buying companies. He said that they would do everything possible to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book within the next seven days.

He instructed the victims to record a statement with the Thika Police for investigations to commence.

DCEE Estate is a company ran by a certain Lawrence Mburu, his wife Sarah Muthoni and a Catherine who acted as the company’s secretary.