Over 10,000 families of Mukuru kwa Njenga slums in Embakasi have a reason to smile after a Nairobi court set aside an order to evict them.
“The order made on January 14, 2019 and issued on April 4, 2019 are herewith vacated and set aside entirely,” ruled Milimani commercial court senior resident magistrate G. Mmasi.
Governor Mike Sonko had moved to court seeking to block the eviction of the residents who occupy the land claimed by Orbit Chemicals.
The governor under a certificate of urgency through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui filed an application to stay the orders issued expatriate against the residents pending hearing and determination of the case.
Orbit Chemical limited had obtained an order directing the Embakasi police station OCPD to supervise eviction and enforcement of miscellaneous and application No. 784 of 1996 and case No. 876 of 2004.
Sonko said the county government would suffer spill-over effects of the unlawful displacement of over 10,000 families by dint of obligation set in section 152H of the Land Act, 2012.
“Neither is Orbit Chemicals the registered owner of the suit property and therefore the suit constitutes a gross abuse of the court process,” the governor said.
Sonko argued that no certificate of title was provided in proof by Orbit Chemicals.
He further told the court that the execution was carried by a party not entitled to such orders in law.
(edited by O. Owino)
