Maisha Bora Limited v Land Registrar Kilifi County & 2 others [2020] KEELC 2098 (KLR)

Order 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules permits joinder of parties with a right to relief arising from the same transaction. However, joinder may be refused where unnecessary, unhelpful, or productive of delay. The Proposed 4th Respondent gave no reasons for joinder beyond asserting his grandmother's illiteracy, and did not demonstrate an interest in the suit property or that orders in the concluded matter would affect him. Following Pravin Bowry v John Ward, he failed to establish the criteria for a necessary party.

Review requires discovery of new and important matter not obtainable with due diligence, an error apparent on the face of the record, or other sufficient reason, applied for without unreasonable delay. The alleged new matter (the mandamus order in Misc. Application No. 31 of 2008) had in fact been before the Court and was the focus of the 19th April 2018 Judgment. The 3rd Respondent's claim of ignorance of the proceedings was disbelieved, as the affidavits she thumb-printed showed she knew the dispute she was answering.

Counsel Binyenya swore a detailed replying affidavit showing the 3rd Respondent personally instructed his firm in November 2015, thumb-printed affidavits, and supplied a bank statement for filing. The Applicants filed no supplementary affidavit in rebuttal. The court found the affidavits revealed a person who knew the dispute, and noted she named neither the alleged Chief who misled her nor any assistant in obtaining a title deed, undermining her assertion of recent awareness.