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Armed Kenyan police officers have occupied a five-acre plot in Eldoret owned by the family of the late President Daniel arap Moi, in a move the family’s lawyer says came without any eviction notice.
Officers from the General Service Unit, a paramilitary police wing, moved onto the property near the main entrance to the Eldoret State Lodge late last week, The Standard reported. Private security guards had watched over the land for nearly a year before the officers ordered them to leave by 4 p.m.
The area around the State Lodge was under tight security, with only government officials reportedly allowed on the roads leading to the protected zone. Some cows that the family’s lawyer said did not belong to his client were later seen grazing on the disputed property.
The plot, registered as Eldoret Municipality/Block 8/62, is owned by the Moi family and Willowdale Investments Limited, according to the family’s lawyer, Moses Mutisya of Gordon Ogola and Associates. He said the family has occupied the land since 1996, holds a title to it and has faced no dispute over it in nearly three decades.
Mutisya said he spent much of the morning and afternoon at the site, but his pleas to stop the occupation were ignored. He said the officers told him they were acting on firm instructions. Caretakers were told that a senior government official had directed that all properties next to the State Lodge be vacated immediately, and that the land belonged to the government.
“We are hereby demanding that this injustice be remedied, failure to which we will take appropriate legal action,” Mutisya said.
He said no eviction notice was issued before the officers moved in and that the family has documents proving its ownership. The family has described the takeover as politically motivated, People Daily reported.
Government spokesman Charles Owino did not respond to calls or messages, The Standard said. Sources cited by the newspaper said the eviction followed an order from State House, but that could not be independently confirmed. It was unclear whether the action was tied to a land dispute or a security measure around the State Lodge.
The Standard is owned by Standard Group, which the Moi family controls. The group also runs the Sunday Standard, KTN News and Radio Maisha, and is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The newspaper ran an editorial calling the occupation unacceptable.
The occupation comes amid an open rift between President William Ruto and Gideon Moi, the former president’s son and chairman of the Kenya African National Union. In June, Ruto called Gideon Moi a gangster and accused Standard Group of running extortionist headlines against his government. Standard Group chief executive Chacha Mwita said the government owed the company KSh1.2 billion.
The two men had appeared to be moving closer. In October 2025, Gideon Moi dropped a planned bid for the Baringo Senate seat after consulting Ruto, a step widely seen as aligning the party with the governing coalition.
Billionaires.Africa estimates Gideon Moi’s net worth at about $500 million, with interests in hospitality, agriculture and media. The Moi family’s vast landholdings and businesses have been the subject of repeated legal battles since the former president died in 2020.
Daniel arap Moi ruled Kenya from 1978 to 2002.
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