Board of Trustees, National Social Security v Keiyo Teachers Co-operative Savings and Credit Society & 6 others (Civil Appeal E076 of 2020) (27 February 2026) (Decision) [2026] KECA 327 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal confirmed that land gazetted for a public purpose like a prison cannot be sold privately, and buyers must be refunded their money.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the suit properties were un-alienated public land, and therefore available for allotment to private developers
- 2.Whether the appellant passed a good title to the 1st respondent
- 3.Whether the trial court erred in ordering the appellant to refund the purchase price to the 1st respondent
- 4.Whether the trial court failed to consider the appellant's submissions
- 5.Who should bear the costs of this appeal and the trial court proceedings
Key legal issues
#Status of the suit land: gazetted prison land
The suit properties were public land gazetted as prison land and therefore not available for alienation for private use; the purported alienation and letters of allotment were null and void ab initio.
The evidence of Corporal Leonard Oguto, a Prisons Department surveyor, that the land was gazetted as prison land vide Gazette Notice No. 751 was unrebutted. The transactions occurred decades after gazettement. Gazetted public land is already alienated for a specific public purpose, distinct from un-alienated public land, and may only be alienated after a stringent de-gazettement process, for which no evidence was tendered.
Whether the appellant passed good title to the 1st respondent
The appellant had no good title to pass; the void alienation could not confer title on the original allottees, the appellant, or the 1st respondent.
Since the original allotment of gazetted prison land was a nullity, the allottees acquired nothing and could pass nothing to the appellant, who in turn could pass nothing to the 1st respondent. Following Torino Enterprises and Kiluwa Limited, allotment letters over reserved public land convey no transferable interest.
Refund of the purchase price
The trial court properly ordered the appellant to refund Kshs.50,111,880/- with interest because the sale contract was void or voidable and the appellant's acquisition was fraudulent and questionable.
A refund lies where the contract is void, voidable or frustrated by the vendor's breach or lack of title. The speed of the transactions, registration on the same day as the allottees were registered, and the use of wrong transfer instruments evidenced a fraudulent transaction; the appellant as vendor was not innocent, and restitution in integrum follows.
Whether the trial court failed to consider the appellant's submissions
The learned judge considered all the material before him; a judgment need not reproduce all submissions verbatim.
The Court re-read the submissions, evidence and judgment, reproduced the definitive parts of the judgment, and was satisfied the trial judge considered all the material. Requiring a judgment to embody every submission as a transcript of proceedings is not the law.
Legal principles established
#- Gazetted public land, being land already alienated for a specific public purpose, is not available for re-alienation, sub-division or allotment to private persons, and can only be alienated after proper de-gazettement.
- The Commissioner of Lands has no authority to alienate or allocate public land already reserved for a particular public purpose, and letters of allotment issued for such land convey no transferable interest.
- A nullity cannot pass good title: where the original alienation was null and void ab initio, no subsequent purchaser, even a purported bona fide purchaser for value, can acquire good title.
- A court may order refund of the purchase price where the contract is void or voidable due to the seller's lack of title, fraud, misrepresentation or breach.
- On a first appeal, the Court must reconsider the evidence and draw its own conclusions, but will only interfere with findings of fact where the trial judge failed to consider relevant matters, considered irrelevant matters, or the findings are unsupported by the evidence.
Court orders
#- 1.Appeal dismissed in its entirety
- 2.Trial court's findings affirmed
- 3.Appellant to pay the 1st respondent the costs of this appeal and the costs of the trial court
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
- On appeal from
- Environment and Land Court at Eldoret
- ELC Case No. 253 of 2012
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appeal to the Court of Appeal under Rule 34(7) of the Court of Appeal Rules, 2022 (reasons for decision dismissing the appeal)
Relief refused
#Appellant's appeal (all 13 grounds reduced to three) challenging the findings that the suit land was gazetted prison land, the order for refund of the purchase price, and the alleged failure to consider its submissions
The land was gazetted public land reserved as prison land, unavailable for alienation; nullities could not pass good title; and the trial judge considered all material before him
Costs
The appellant shall pay the 1st respondent the costs of this appeal and the costs of the trial court.
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
We afirm the trial court's findings. Regarding costs, it is trite law that costs follow the event. The event here is that the appellant's appeal has failed. We see no reason to deprive the 1st respondent costs. Accordingly, we order that the appellant shall pay the 1st respondent the costs of this appeal and the costs of the trial court.
gazetted public land is not necessarily un- alienated public land. While both gazetted land and un-alienated public land are types of public land as defined under Article 62 of the Constitution, each represents a totally difierent status regarding its usage and reservation.
gazetted land can only be alienated after it is properly de-gazetted. No evidence was tendered to suggest that the suit properties were de-gazetted, a stringent legal process that is designed to protect public interest land from arbitrary allocation to private individuals.
the purported alienation and the letters of allotment allegedly issued to the third parties who sold the land to the appellant were null and void ab initio. Therefore, the purported allottees could not pass good title to the appellant.
To our mind, this is a model example of a fraudulent transaction.
Issues in the judgment
#The judgment inconsistently states the date of the Gazette Notice gazetting the land as prison land - in places 18/12/1963, elsewhere 22.6.1967 and 18/12/1967
The refund figure is variously stated as Kshs.50,111,880 and Kshs.50,118,880 in the judgment
The coram appears as the Court of Appeal at Eldoret but the judgment is dated and delivered at Nakuru
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (3)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Shah & another (Suing for and on behalf of the Estate of Rajnikant Devchand Shah (Deceased)) & 4 others v Kenya Railways Corporation & 4 others (Environment and Land Case E007 of 2022) [2026] KEELC 2712 (KLR)[2026] KEELC 2712 (KLR)29 Apr 2026applied
- Ethics & Anti-Corruption Commission v Kokita alias Halima Chelagat Kokota & 2 others (Environment and Land Case E008 of 2025) [2026] KEELC 2579 (KLR)[2026] KEELC 2579 (KLR)29 Apr 2026
- Mogayi v Chepkemoi & 8 others (Environment and Land Case 87 of 2016) [2026] KEELC 2041 (KLR)[2026] KEELC 2041 (KLR)15 Apr 2026applied
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Board of Trustees, National Social Security v Keiyo Teachers Co-operative Savings and Credit Society & 6 others (Civil Appeal E076 of 2020) (27 February 2026) (Decision) [2026] KECA 327 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2026). Civil Appeal E076 of 2020. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2026/327/eng@2026-02-27
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.