JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
By a plaint filed in the High Court, the respondents herein, suing on their own behalf, as well as on behalf of other 484 persons, sought Kshs. 100,000,000/= plus interest thereon as compensation for their eviction from Mbondoni Sub-Location, Makina Location in Mbeere District (suit land) by the Government which eviction was aimed to pave way for the construction of the Masinga dam.
Sometime in 1976, the Government compulsorily acquired the suit land which was a trust land for the ongoing hydro dam construction project by the appellant. Some of the 484 inhabitants represented by the respondents were resettled on other parcels of land. The appellant resolved to compensate all the inhabitants for the developments that had been carried on the suit land prior to the construction of the dam. To this end the District Agricultural Officers from the Ministry of Agriculture conducted assessments to establish the value of developments undertaken by each inhabitant. After the…