Huge Blow to President Ruto's Govt Suffers as High Court Orders Them To Pay Former MP Huge Amount of Money

Huge Blow to President Ruto's Govt Suffers as High Court Orders Them To Pay Former MP Huge Amount of Money 

The High Court has ordered the government to compensate former Taita Taveta Member of Parliament Basil Criticos after his sisal farm was destroyed more than two decades ago.

In a ruling on Tuesday, March 3, the court stated that the government should pay the former MP Ksh30 million as compensation for the years of destruction that could have been stopped.

The court stated that the government failed to protect the former lawmaker's property in 1998 and 1999 when thousands of people invaded his sisal farm.

The invasion led to the destruction of 4,400 acres of sisal and his sisal factory.

An estimated 1,600 employees lost their jobs after the invasion, a situation he claims forced him to flee the country.

The court said that the government should pay Criticos Ksh20 million in general damages and Ksh10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages.

Issues about the land were compounded when the 99-year lease of his land expired. Criticos, a former assistant minister for Roads and Public Works, however, claimed that the government of former President Daniel Moi refused to renew his lease.

The court further noted that despite the court ordering the government, led by police, to remove structures that had been erected on the land, the government allegedly failed to comply with the orders.

In his petition, Criticos claimed that the failure of action from the government had crippled his ability to pay debts that had accrued after the invasion.