By GPC News Desk
The Court of Appeal has nullified a multi-billion-shilling judgment and subsequent consent order over land occupied by the General Service Unit (GSU) in Ruaraka, Nairobi, sending the long-running dispute back to the Environment and Land Court.
In a judgment delivered recently, the appellate court declared all proceedings in the matter after November 9, 2012, including a Sh4.09 billion High Court judgment and a subsequent agreement reducing the amount to Sh2.4 billion, a nullity.
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The decision followed an appeal by public-interest litigants Okiya Omtatah Okoiti and Nyakina Wycliffe Gisebe, who were not parties to the original High Court proceedings but were allowed to challenge the case in the public interest.
The dispute dates back to 2012, when Afrison Export Limited and Huelands Limited sued the government over the occupation of LR No. 7879/24, claiming payment for the land and loss of use.
The High Court subsequently entered judgment for Sh4,086,683,330. In April 2013, the parties recorded a consent reducing the amount to Sh2.4 billion, described as the agreed purchase price.
The Court of Appeal, however, found that the High Court lacked jurisdiction to continue handling the case after the Environment and Land Court had become operational.
The judges noted that the dispute concerned the “use, occupation, and title to land”, matters constitutionally assigned to the Environment and Land Court. The court further found that the High Court proceedings had not commenced by November 9, 2012, when practice directions required qualifying land matters to be transferred to the specialised court.
The appellate judges therefore did not determine the competing claims over ownership or the wider questions surrounding the compensation. Instead, they held that the jurisdictional defect was fundamental.
The court stated that “all the proceedings after the 9th November 2012” were a nullity, including the February 2013 judgment and April 2013 consent order, and set them aside.
The matter has now been remitted to the Environment and Land Court for a fresh hearing and determination. Because of the public-interest nature of the appeal, the Court of Appeal ordered each party to bear its own costs.
The ruling represents another major chapter in the controversy surrounding the Ruaraka property, which has previously attracted scrutiny over the government’s compensation arrangements and the ownership and valuation of the land.
A 2022 parliamentary report recorded that the original High Court award stood at about Sh4.09 billion before negotiations reduced it to Sh2.4 billion. The report also stated that the government had paid Sh1.8 billion by the time it was published, although the latest Court of Appeal judgment did not determine the amount, if any, ultimately paid.
Omtatah welcomed the judgment in a statement issued on September 30, describing it as a victory for public interest and the rule of law.
“Courts are not ATMs. Public land and public money are not private bargains,” Omtatah said.
He called for an accounting of any money paid under the now-nullified orders and urged the relevant authorities to pursue recovery where legally appropriate.
However, the Court of Appeal itself did not make a finding of corruption or determine whether the underlying land claim was fraudulent. The judges expressly declined to address several other issues raised in the appeal because the jurisdiction question was sufficient to dispose of the case.
