By ADEN KIPRUTO
A Nairobi court has ordered that a Sh1.35 billion land fraud case involving a former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner and a senior official from the Ministry of Lands be concluded by the trial magistrate who initially handled the matter.
In a ruling delivered at the Milimani Law Courts, Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina stated that the case was already at an advanced stage, noting that the prosecution had already called all its witnesses and the accused persons were already on their defence.
“The matter has reached its tail end since the prosecution has produced all its witnesses and the accused are on their defence,” Onyina stated.
He further observed that any application for recusal of the trial magistrate ought to have been made at the beginning of the proceedings and not at an advanced stage of the trial, noting that the prosecution had already called 18 witnesses.
The magistrate also noted that the trial magistrate, Dolphina Alego, had since been transferred to a neighbouring Commercial Division where she could still be available to conclude the matter.
The ruling follows a series of applications by the two accused persons seeking various reliefs from both the High Court and the Magistrates’ Courts.
The matter was directed to be mentioned before Magistrate Alego on April 22, 2026.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), through prosecutor Hilary Isiaho, had urged the court to dismiss an application by former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Davis Nathan Chelogoi seeking the recusal of Magistrate Alego on grounds of alleged bias.
Chelogoi, who is charged alongside senior lands official Andrew Aseli Kirungu, had argued that the trial magistrate could not handle the case impartially.
However, Magistrate Alego, who had already heard the prosecution case and placed the accused on their defence after finding that they had a case to answer, declined to step aside, saying the application lacked merit and appeared intended to delay the conclusion of the trial, which she described as being at its tail end.
Kirungu, on his part, urged the court to proceed with the case to its conclusion, saying justice should not be delayed.
“Your Honour, I urge this court to order that this case be concluded by Ms Alego. I am a civil servant with one year to retire, and I want this matter determined either way so that I can plan my retirement,” he said.
Through his lawyer Lorna Miima, Kirungu—who has taken a different position from his co-accused—also supported the request for the matter to be concluded by the same magistrate.
Miima argued that Kirungu was not part of the recusal application or related High Court proceedings and was equally seeking expeditious determination of the case as he prepares for retirement.
The court was further informed that Chelogoi had previously filed two petitions at the High Court seeking to halt the criminal proceedings, but both were dismissed by Justices Alexander Muteti and Oscar Angote.
Prosecutor Isiaho opposed the application, arguing that it lacked merit and was a delaying tactic aimed at denying justice to complainants Ashok Rupshi Shah and Hitenkumar Amritlal Raja, who have waited 17 years for the matter to be resolved.
He urged the court to dismiss the application and allow the trial to proceed before Magistrate Alego, in line with High Court directions requiring the accused to defend themselves before the trial court.
Court records show that in a ruling delivered on March 5, 2026, the High Court declined to stop the criminal proceedings, allowing the case to continue.
The dispute involves land measuring 7.39 hectares in Lower Kabete, which is reportedly registered under two parallel title deeds—one in the name of Chelogoi and another held by the complainants.
Chelogoi is accused of forging the title deed to the disputed property, which is at the centre of the long-running legal battle.
The High Court also dismissed his applications seeking to challenge decisions by the ODPP and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), as well as attempts to review earlier rulings allowing the case to proceed.
