The Land Acquisition Tribunal has directed the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) to provide compensation to Muambi Properties Ltd, the registered owner of the property identified as L.R. No. 7374/3, situated along Mombasa Road in proximity to Konza City.
On March 29, 2018, the National Land Commission, representing the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, issued a notice of intention to acquire a portion of the subject property, approximately 0.7972 hectares in size, as published in Gazette Notice No. 3215. This acquisition is intended for the construction of the Kathekakai – Machakos Road.
Thereafter, KURA invited the persons affected by the project to participate in an inquiry, as announced in Gazette Notice Number 5264 on 31st May 2018. This was followed by the allocation of Kshs. 52,632,888 to Muambi Properties Ltd on 14th August 2018, which was accepted promptly on 15th August 2018.
The payment for this award was, nonetheless, not disbursed. Upon receiving the payment schedule from KURA, the National Land Commission communicated with its Chairman, indicating that the awarded amount exceeded the allocated budget for the project.
As a result, the National Land Commission called upon KURA to cancel the compulsory acquisition pertaining to a part of the subject property. Following this call, KURA issued Gazette Notice No. 7666 on October 2, 2020, two years later, which revoked the acquisition of the relevant portion of the property, explaining that “the land parcel…is no longer required for the construction of the Kathekakai-Machakos (Konza-Vota-Katumani) Road.”
KURA, on June 25, 2021, issued a notice in the Kenya Gazette expressing the intention to create a right of way that would cross the part of the suit property which had been acquired through compulsory means earlier. After the issuance of this notice, KURA took possession of the suit property and began the development of a public road on the section marked for acquisition.
A ruling by the land acquisition Tribunal dated 26th September 2024 noted and ordered that “An order be and is hereby issued that the Plaintiff is entitled to compensation by the 1st Defendant for acquisition of part of the parcel of land known as L.R. No. 7374/3 for the sum of Kshs. 52,632,888”.
The tribunal further ordered “The 1st Defendant (KURA) shall pay general damages of Kshs. 1,000,000/= together with interest from the date of this judgment until payment in full”.
