Sophia Nyakerario Maina And Sebastian Adala (Suing on their own behalf and in the interest of 440 other Applicants being inhabitants of Properties known as Land Reference Number 209/12016) v Kenya Airports Authority & 3 others [2020] KEELC 2773 (KLR)

Article 22 permits representative suits but the mandatory requirements of Order 1 rules 8 and 13 of the Civil Procedure Rules must be met: notice to those represented, joinder applications by those wishing to be bound, and unequivocal written authority signed by those represented. No notice was served, no application to be joined was made, and no written authority existed; a mere list of names does not constitute authority.

The suit property is surveyed and registered land. The petitioners produced no official search or certified extract of the register to prove ownership. Having not pleaded adverse possession against the registered proprietor (who was not joined), they failed to establish lawful ownership or occupation, which was the very foundation of the petition.

The claim rested on ownership and lawful occupation, which was not proved. The evidence on the date of eviction was contradictory between the two petitioners (29 October 2011 versus 20 November 2011), undermining proof on a balance of probabilities. No evidence tied the 1st or 4th respondents to the eviction; the 2nd and 3rd respondents did not exist as suable entities; no statutory notice was tendered against the 5th respondent.

The 2nd respondent, 'Kenya City Council of Nairobi', was an unknown entity since local authorities had been abolished under the Constitution of Kenya 2010. Similarly, there was no office of 'Minister for Internal Security Provincial Administration' after the 2013 elections under the new constitutional dispensation. The petitioners ought to have amended the petition to bring the proper entities on board.