Why PCEA lost 17-year battle to Catholic Church over 28-acre Meru land

• In 2009, the PCEA Church moved to court, accusing the Catholic Diocese of Meru and others of “secretly, irregularly, and fraudulently subdividing and transferring” its land.

A Court of Appeal decision on a 17-year dispute pitting the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) against the Catholic Diocese of Meru has affirmed that historical occupation of land by an institution does not necessarily confer ownership rights.

This comes after the PCEA Church lost an appeal over a 28-acre parcel of land where it had established a school before the Catholic Diocese of Meru acquired a title deed.

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  PCEA ordered to pay landowner Sh2.5m for trespassing

  PCEA has also been given three months to move out of the plots, where it operates a girls’ secondary school.

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  Firm defies court order to surrender 40 acres

  A court had ordered that the company associated with PCEA surrender the land to two women.