Mombasa family in bitter court battle over Sh10m Kizingo estate property

The family of the late US military officer, Malik Saggaf, is embroiled in a dispute over multi-million-shilling property acquired from his terminal compensation by the US government.

The contested asset is a piece of land in Mombasa’s leafy Kizingo estate, hosting a two storey building valued at Sh10 million.

Malik’s brother, Mohammed Saggaf, is locked in a legal fight with Malik’s widow, Salma Abubakar, and her two sons, Abubakar and Ghazi Saggaf, over the ownership of the vacant plot adjacent to the family house.
Mohammed has lost an appeal seeking to stop the sale of the prime land by Salma and her two sons after the Court of Appeal in Mombasa declined to issue stay orders.

Salma received Sh7.92 million from the American government following the death of her husband on October 21, 2003.

She later agreed with her brother-in-law, Mohammed, to purchase a family house that would accommodate her, her two sons and Malik’s parents.

The family settled on a two-storey home with an adjoining vacant plot at Sh10.6 million. Mohammed agreed to contribute Sh2.5 million on top of the Sh7.92 million compensation to complete the purchase.

Before purchasing the disputed land, the family lived together in a rented house in town. Mohammed told the court that the family had agreed the suit property would be held in  trust by Salma for the benefit of her two sons and well as Malik’s parents.

He said his contribution to the purchase entitled him to ownership of the vacant portion, which was to be sub-divided. According to him, the sub-division process had already begun and was substantially completed but never finalised.

Mohammed told Justices Francis Tuiyott, Kibaya Laibuta and Grace Macharia that the said land was transferred without his knowledge to his nephews, who sought to sell it to Tudor Light Limited.

However, Salma argued that the terminal benefits from the US government were paid directly to her as the sole nominated beneficiary, and she used the funds to acquire the disputed property. She later transferred ownership to her two sons once they attained the age of majority.

She told the judges that her sons have since entered into a joint venture agreement with Tudor Lights Limited to develop the property.
Salma rejected claims by her brother-in-law that he contributed to the purchase, maintaining she owed him no fiduciary duty. In his appeal before Justices Tuiyott, Laibuta, and Macharia, Mohammed sought to halt the sale of the land.

The judges declined to grant a stay against a money decree, saying Mohammed had failed to demonstrate that Salma and her sons would be unable to refund the money if ordered, or that recovering it would be exceptionally difficult.

“In so far as the applicant (Mohammed) has not demonstrated, nay alleged, that the respondents (Salma and sons) are not in a position to pay up the compensation when called upon, then it has not been established that the appeal will be rendered nugatory if we do not grant the injunctions sought,” Justice Francis Tuiyott ruled.