Firm seeks NLC, AG's intervention over alleged encroachment on Kasarani land

A firm has petitioned government agencies over what it terms as illegal encroachment on its five-acre parcel of land in Kasarani, allegedly by agents of the Nairobi City County.

Umagara Wiyonere Company Limited, through its advocates Wambo Muyala & Company, has written to the Chairperson of the National Land Commission and the Attorney General, accusing county-linked agents of continuing construction on its land in defiance of injunctions issued by the Environment and Land Court.

The complaint comes nearly three years after the firm, incorporated in 1986, filed suit against Clay City Ward MCA Mwaura Samora and Nairobi City County over the contested parcel of land, registered as LR No. 28395, citing alleged encroachment.

The advocates noted that the case against MCA Mwaura Samora and Nairobi City County is still pending before the Environment and Land Court and has not been heard and determined.

Located approximately 18 kilometres from Nairobi’s Central Business District, the land in Maji Mazuri, Kasarani, has been at the centre of a protracted property dispute that has seen two separate court injunctions issued, yet allegedly ignored.

According to court documents, Umagara Wiyonere Company says it initially allowed the county government to use a portion of the land for the construction of social amenities.

However, the company claims county agents instead invaded the entire parcel without following any compulsory acquisition process.

“Our client was never notified. Our client was never consulted. No compensation was assessed, offered, or paid,” the advocates state.

“Our client’s land was simply invaded and developed as though private property rights and constitutional processes do not exist in this Republic.”

The firm maintains that the developments on the land unmistakably point to county involvement.

“The structures erected thereon prominently display colours and markings symbolic and characteristic of the Nairobi City County Government, leaving no reasonable doubt that this project is being carried out with the knowledge, facilitation, and active participation of the County Government or its agents,” the advocates state in the complaint.

Court records show that the first injunctive orders were issued on October 31, 2023, when Justice Grace Kemei restrained the respondents from entering, constructing on, or interfering with the land pending determination of the main suit.

“Pending the hearing and determination of the main suit, the respondents, their servants, agents, or any person acting through them are hereby prohibited from encroaching or interfering in any way with Land LR No. 28395,” the court ordered, further directing that invaders be evicted.

A second, more emphatic order followed on January 31, 2025, when Justice Kemei issued an interim injunction.

“That in the interim there shall be a temporary injunction restraining the respondents by themselves, their officers, servants or agents from taking possession of, entering, encroaching, trespassing, working on, constructing or using part or whole of the land LR No. 28395 pending the hearing and determination of the application,” the order states.

The order carried a penal notice warning that any disobedience or non-observance would attract penal consequences.

Despite the subsisting orders, the company claims construction of what appears to be a government market has continued on the property.

The complaint also raises concern over the alleged refusal by police officers at Santon Police Station to enforce the court orders.

“Our client has been turned away, stonewalled, and left without the protection that the law and the Constitution guarantee them,” the advocates wrote.

The Regional Commander, Nairobi County, has been placed on formal notice over what the firm terms as dereliction of duty, while the Independent Policing Oversight Authority has been copied to investigate the alleged failure by police officers to act.

“Our client, armed with the subsisting court orders of January 31, 2025, has on multiple occasions approached the relevant police authorities and formally requested their assistance,” the letter states.

“Shockingly and inexplicably, the police have consistently refused and failed to cooperate.”

In a ruling delivered on September 24, 2025, Justice Christine Ochieng declined to issue fresh injunctive orders, finding that the January 2025 application raised issues that had already been decided by the court. 

However, the court directed all parties to adhere to the October 31, 2023, status quo orders pending the determination of the suit.

The defendants (Nairobi County and the MCA) have denied the allegations, stating in affidavits that no construction is ongoing on the land and that the parcel is public land demarcated as such since 1983.

The company has warned that if the National Land Commission and other state agencies fail to intervene, it is prepared to stage peaceful demonstrations to demand enforcement of court orders and compensation, ahead of the planned launch of the market by President William Ruto.