Nanga Farm gets new directors amid highly charged elections.

Police officers inspecting documents belonging to members of Nanga-Kihoto Land Buying Company before being allowed to enter the Gatanga Catholic Social Hall for the February 2 2018 elections of board members.

Members of the troubled Nanga-Kihoto Land Buying Company over the weekend got a new set of directors after highly charged elections that saw several people being arrested in possession of weapons.

The elections, which were ordered by a Nakuru court, will pave way for the sub-division of the farmers’ 2,323 acres located off the Naivasha-Kirima road.

The 1,768-member company has been entangled into more than 15 years of leadership wrangles pitting two groups led by Pharis Mburu Ngugi on one side and Samuel Monyo Njoroge on the other.

Ironically, members elected both Mburu (530 votes) and Monyo (808 votes) into the 7-man Board of Directors, bringing into question how the two antagonists will feature in the same board.

Others who made it into the board included Francis Kariuki Muheria (665 votes), Robert Magana Muiruri (644 votes), Francis Kaburu Kagunya (628), Haron Kahiga Gakera (528 votes) and Amos Ngugi Njoroge (524 votes).

Maryanne Wanjiru Kagongona was elected the company secretary with 577 votes.

Among all the seven directors, only Mburu made it through from his faction.

Tensions had been rising since Friday morning at the Gatanga Catholic Social hall in Murang’a County as members of the two factions accused each other of embezzling the company’s funds and illegally selling part of their property.

Word had it that one of the faction had hired goons disguised as bona fide members to disrupt the elections by causing chaos. This occasioned Gatanga Division to deploy a contingent of heavily armed police officers to stay vigil, something that averted bloodshed as witnessed in similar elections.

“We had information that some people had been hired to cause chaos so we could not take any chances. As we speak now, we have already arrested several people armed with knives and we will arraign them in court on Monday (today) if we find them culpable,” explained Gatanga OCPD Beatrice Kiraguri.

Monyo accused Mburu of holding into office illegally and planning to sell part of the 2,323 acres of land in Naivasha. He noted that 456 acres of the farm were currently leased out to flower growing company, the proceeds of which only benefitted one party.

“We have evidence that they want to sell the 456 acres to the flower company behind our backs. 

However, our members are ready to move into the land and start sub-dividing it after the AGM,” he said.

Replying to the accusations, Mburu alleged that the Monyo group had illegally advanced themselves with a loan of Sh. 180million using the Naivasha land as collateral s matter Monyo vehemently denied saying that there were no records that indicated any such loan.

Mburu added that he spent part of the sh.10million he got as rent from the flower company to pay for survey before the rest of the money was frozen through a court order.

“I have already paid sh. 6million to the surveyor so as to sub-divide the land amongst our members. Each member is earmarked to get ⅓ of an acre once we complete the allocation,” explained Mburu.

The land was bought back in the early 1980s and some of the elderly members have died waiting for justice. 

The order to hold elections had been given by Justice Roselyn Korir last month, affording the members an opportunity to pick directors of their choice.

Robert Muriu Ndung’u had been named as the returning officer for the elections while the Gatanga OCS was directed to provide security.

The judge further ordered that the general meeting report should be filed in court by the presiding officer within seven days of the elections. Meanwhile, all the company's accounts should remain frozen.