Marble Arch Hotel owner Mike Maina has suffered a blow after a judge dismissed a petition seeking to block Nairobi county government from demolishing his hotel parking fence.
Environment and Land Court judge Lucy Mbugua on May 22 said the land which was used by the hotel as a parking lot was alleged to be public land.
While dismissing a case filed by Muthithi Investments and Marble Arch Hotel Limited, the judge ruled that the suit had no merit as Muthithi did not follow the laid down dispute resolution mechanisms.
“The upshot of the findings of this court are that the suit is not merited. The same is hereby dismissed,” justice Mbugua ruled.
The judge said Muthihi Investments should have moved to the liaison committee before filing the case before the Environment and Land court.
The threats to demolish the hotel parking lot were made by former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko in 2018 after county officials pulled down a perimeter fence to an adjacent plot, which is used as a parking lot for the hotel.
Sonko claimed both the hotel and the parking lot stood on public land.
The court heard, Sonko sought to demolish the hotel on allegation that the titles to the properties were fraudulently acquired.
The two companies wanted the court to declare that Muthithi Investments is the legal and rightful proprietor of LR No. 209/11100 (IR 47666) and LR No. 209/11843 (IR No. 57355) located within the Nairobi CBD.
The company had moved to court in 2019 and lost an application seeking to be allowed to fence part of a perimeter wall that was demolished by the county government.
This is after the county government through their lawyer opposed the application saying the court should not allow the hotel to fence public land, and the matter was before court. The county has maintained the disputed land is a parking lot.
Documents filed in court show the land was initially a public toilet and owned by the Nairobi County Fire Station.
In 2018, the county embarked on a campaign to reclaim grabbed parking bays within the CBD and has since then repossessed over 200 parking slots.
Former governor Sonko put on notice to all land grabbers in the city warning that buildings on grabbed public land will also be demolished.
-Edited by SKanyara
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