More than 2,000 residents of Manda Island in Lamu have moved to court seeking to be included in a petition where the High Court has blocked the DCI from investigating claims of land grabbing.
The residents through their representatives Fatuma Mahmoud and Wafiya Hussein say private developers have invaded their land measuring more than 1,000 acres.
In the petition, Alex Njage sued the Director of Public Prosecutions, Director of Criminal Investigations and the Inspector General of Police seeking conservatory orders stopping his arrest and probe over claims of land grabbing.
The High Court in Nairobi has since granted the orders sought and restrained the DCI and DPP from arresting, investigating or prosecuting the petitioner.
However, Hussein and Mahmoud, through an application filed by lawyer Danstan Omari, are seeking to be enjoined in the case.
The residents argue that the petition has a proximate and identifiable interest and that they will suffer prejudice in case of non-joinder.
“The applicants’ vested interest is clearly outlined and not remote owing to the apparent fact that the applicants have at all material times been the registered owners of the subject parcels of land subject to this petition,” their affidavit reads.
Goodson Nine Limited, Goodson Fifty-Three Limited, Abdillahi Haji and the Law Society of Kenya are listed as the first to fourth interested parties respectively.
Mahmoud and Hussein are seeking to be enjoined as the fifth and sixth respondents.
The residents claim the companies are undertaking development works on their parcels and alleging to have title deeds.
“We are left wondering how they got those documents because we have the original titles given to us in 2012.
It is for that reason that we want the orders lifted so the DCI can investigate how those titles were acquired,” Hussein told reporters outside the Milimani law courts in Nairobi after filing their application.
They also want the High Court in Nairobi to refer the matter to the Environment and Land Court in Malindi which has the jurisdiction to hear land cases.
Their lawyer said the alleged land grabbers obtained the orders from the High Court in Nairobi without the knowledge of the residents who had won a case over the same land at the Environment and Land Court in Malindi.
The existence of orders issued without their knowledge has a likelihood of adversely affecting and further derogating their rights, they argued.
The bid to transfer the case to the High Court in Malindi will enable them to follow the proceedings and be heard at their convenience, they said.
“These poor peasant fishermen
are travelling from Lamu to Nairobi
spending Sh3,000 either way and a
similar amount on return because
they don’t have anywhere to live in
Nairobi when following the case,”
Omari said.
