Moi family ordeal as armed GSU officers occupy Eldoret property

Gideon Moi’s family’s disputed property near Eldoret State Lodge. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

For nearly a year, private security guards had watched over the five-acre property near the Eldoret State Lodge, going about their daily routine without incident.

But on Friday morning, that routine was abruptly interrupted when armed General Service Unit (GSU) officers arrived and ordered them to leave by 4 pm.

The guards were dumbfounded. They had received no prior notice of an eviction, and the owners of the property, which the family of Gideon Moi says it has held for three decades, knew nothing about the directive.

What followed was a tense standoff that ended with the guards being forced out, their belongings allegedly thrown out of the houses. Yesterday, a man believed to be a plainclothes police officer was seen inside the compound.

The dramatic takeover has left Gideon’s family questioning how a property it says it legally owns through Willowdale Investments Limited could be occupied by armed officers without any explanation or formal notice.

The family, through its lawyers, claims the officers acted on instructions they attributed to senior government officials, including President William Ruto.

“We were told that a senior government official, and more precisely President William Ruto, was walking around the vicinity and directed the GSU commander to carry out the eviction as fast as possible,” said the family lawyer Gordon Ogola

Ogola described the incident as politically motivated, arguing that the family was being deliberately frustrated.

“This looks to be more politically inclined, just to frustrate them as much as they can,” he said.

For the security guards, the ordeal began with what appeared to be a straightforward order to vacate the premises.

A senior guard who witnessed the events said GSU officers from the nearby State Lodge arrived on Friday morning and instructed the team to leave by 4 pm.

“We have guarded the premises for the last year. They instructed our guards to move out of the premises by 4 pm,” said the guard, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Gideon Moi’s family’s disputed property near Eldoret State Lodge. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

The officers allegedly told the guards that the land belonged to the State and that nobody, including the family of the former Head of State, should remain there.

Uncertain about what was happening, the senior guard contacted the owners. They told him they had not received any notice directing them to surrender the property.

The situation became more worrying when a senior police officer who identified himself as Kigen reportedly called one of the security supervisors and said he was acting under firm instructions to evict the occupants.

With the owners yet to establish the source of the orders, the guards were caught between protecting the property and the demands of armed officers.

“We asked our guards to stay put as we established the circumstances around the surprise orders,” the senior guard said.

On Saturday, the security team returned to the property accompanied by a lawyer, hoping to get answers from the police at the State Lodge station.

But their efforts to reach Kigen came to nothing as his phone was switched off.

The team then went to the State Lodge gate, introduced themselves as the people responsible for securing the property and asked to speak to the officer in charge.

Instead, they were referred to an officer identified as Chelang’a.

The guard said Chelang’a told them that police had been instructed by their superiors to clear people from areas around the State Lodge.

“He told us that the police had been instructed by his seniors to immediately move people out of areas near the State Lodge,” he said.

According to the guard, the officer said the directive had come from the President and that he could not risk being seen to disobey orders from the Head of State.

“If you have any complaint, you should follow the right procedure,” the officers allegedly told the team.

The guards pleaded for more time, asking that the caretakers be allowed to remain until Monday so the owners could pursue the matter through the appropriate channels, but their appeal was rejected.

The officers allegedly insisted that nobody should be inside the compound after 2 pm on Saturday, warning that they could face trouble if they failed to enforce the directive.

“The officers told us to quickly vacate because the President, who gave the orders, was operating from the Eldoret State Lodge and they would be in trouble for not enforcing the directive,” the guard said.

The officers reportedly claimed that President Ruto had issued the instruction.

With no agreement reached, the security team left the property. However, they asked two guards to remain behind to monitor the situation and keep the owners and the security company informed.

A GSU officer at a property belonging to former President Moi’s family near Eldoret State Lodge on October 18, 2026. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

The team then went to Naiberi Police Station to report what they described as an unlawful eviction. But instead of recording their statements, police allegedly demanded to see the owners and documents proving ownership of the land.

“They dismissed us and demanded to see the owners and ownership documents. The lawyer showed them the documents, but they still refused to record our statements,” the guard said.

The situation took a more confrontational turn at about 7 pm on Saturday when officers allegedly returned to the compound.

According to the guard, they roughed up the two remaining guards, threw their belongings out of the houses and warned them against returning.

Fearing for their safety, the senior guard said he eventually instructed his colleagues to leave.

“I asked the guards to move out because their lives were at risk since the officers had turned confrontational,” he said.

Eight guards had been assigned to the property, with five working during the day and three at night. By Saturday evening, all had left.

Maxmila Kaibei, director of the security company contracted to protect the premises, confirmed that her guards were no longer at the property.

“We don’t have any of our security guards at the property because they were all ordered to move out on Saturday. There have never been cows grazing in the compound. We don’t know whose livestock are grazing there,” she said.

When The Standard visited the property yesterday afternoon, the compound was locked from inside.

Inside, a man believed by sources to be a plainclothes police officer was seen moving between different rooms of the house. More than 10 cows were also grazing in the compound, an unusual sight, according to the security company.

It was not immediately clear who had brought the livestock into the property or under what authority the compound was being occupied.

The five-acre parcel lies in a highly secured residential neighbourhood, a short distance from Eldoret Club and close to the State Lodge.

For the Moi family, the dispute is about more than the removal of security guards. Its lawyers say the company has owned and occupied the property since June 17, 1996, and that the owners have never received a lawful notice requiring them to leave.

Lawyer Ogola said the family had leased portions of the property to private individuals over the years, maintaining control of the land through Willowdale Investments Limited.

On Friday, lawyer Moses Mutisya, who is also representing the company, said the owners had documents proving their claim to the property.

He warned that the family would seek legal redress if the officers did not leave.

The reported takeover has left several questions unanswered: who authorised the operation, why the owners were not formally notified and what legal basis the officers had for claiming the property.