The Environment and Land Court found Patrick Analo Akivaga (County Secretary, Nairobi County), Stephen Gathuita Mwangi (CECM-Nairobi County), Stephen Mwadime, Richard Mumo, and Fredrick Ochanda (all Senior Officers at Lands and Urban Planning) to be in contempt of court orders for failing to stop the on-going construction on the property
By The Weekly Vision Team
Senior officers at Nairobi City County’s Planning Department, together with directors of Ammey Homes Ltd., are facing jail terms for contempt of court. Investigations reveal that the officers colluded with the developers in disobeying a court order barring any developments on LR.209/7549 Taza Lane, Parklands area of Nairobi.
The Environment and Land Court found Patrick Analo Akivaga (County Secretary, Nairobi County), Stephen Gathuita Mwangi (CECM-Nairobi County), Stephen Mwadime, Richard Mumo, and Fredrick Ochanda (all Senior Officers at Lands and Urban Planning) to be in contempt of court orders for failing to stop the on-going construction on the property.
The court has also found Ali Ibrahim Hamamed, Stella Nyamu, Yusuf Asker Mohamed, Arch. Salim Komora, Eng. Wilson Lepartobiko, and Burach Koch to be in contempt of court orders for their continued construction activities on the said property. They have all been ordered to personally appear in court on February 19, 2024, for mitigation and sentencing. The orders stopping development on the controversial plot were issued by Judge A. Angote through a ruling delivered on May 25, 2023, but City Hall’s planning officers went ahead and allowed construction work to proceed despite the court orders.
The orders issued read, “The upshot of the foregoing is that this application is allowed that an order of temporary injunction be and is hereby given compelling the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Respondents jointly and severally to stop and enforce any further development on L.R. No. 209/7549, Parklands by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Interested Parties, their agents and/or servants, or any other person pending the hearing and determination of this Petition.”.
The respondents were Nairobi Metropolitan Services (1st Respondent), Mohamed Badi (2nd Respondent), Stephen Gathuita Mwangi (3rd Respondent), Stephen Mwadime (4th Respondent), Richard Mumo (5th Respondent), Fredrick Ochanda (6th Respondent), and Attorney General (7th Respondent). According to the petition dated June 22, 2022, filed by David Alfred Njeru Ndambiri and Titus Kitonga, they occupy and reside in House No. G, erected on the property known as L.R. No. 209/7546-Taza Lane, off City Park Drive, which is opposite L.R. No. 209/7549, the subject property where construction and development activities were ongoing.
However, they claimed that the respondents have been and continue to be aware of the development activities on the subject property, that the said development started with the demolition of buildings and the cutting of trees and other vegetation without approval from Nairobi City County herein, and that the planning officers confirmed that the alleged authority to demolish the houses and cut down the trees on the suit property is not genuine and was not issued by themselves.
It is the petitioners’ case that the impugned activities are in respect to the construction and development of a massive residential building on the subject property, which property has no existing public sewer line next to or adjacent to it, and that these activities are deleterious to the environment. Further, it was determined that city hall officers were aware of the various court orders and administrative decisions stopping development activities on the subject property, including those by the National Construction Authority in October 2020, the National Environment Tribunal, and the National Environmental Management Authority, and that waste is flowing from the suit property into the stormwater drainage that flows to the Mathare River.
According to the petitioners, these activities are deleterious to the environment, including waste flowing into the river. In addition, the petitioners claim that the respondents have breached their right to access information by failing or refusing to grant them access to information for the subject matter.
The petitioner has also annexed a letter from the Commission on Administrative Justice dated May 27, 2022, in which it stated that it visited the Director-General’s office on May 23, 2022, and found that the architectural drawings shown to their representative were undated and were very different from those circulated, and the civil and architectural drawings were not available for perusal.
The judge noted that there is a significant mushrooming of high-rise developments in Nairobi, which are gaining swift permission from the county government and other agencies. These agencies sometimes seem to not take into account the impacts of approving multi-dwelling developments on the environment, particularly waste management systems.
“It is therefore essential for this court to determine this matter conclusively by interrogating the allegations raised by the petitioners, particularly on whether the 50+ houses that were on the suit property were demolished with the permission of the 1st Respondent and if the waste management system has been put in place, amongst other measures required under the Physical and Land Use Planning Act.”.
