Mike Makarena v District Land Adjudication and Settlement Officer Tigania East & 3 others [2020] KEELC 3687 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan court refused to stop a land adjudication exercise because residents must first use the dispute channels built into the Land Adjudication Act.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Exhaustion of statutory dispute resolution mechanisms under the Land Adjudication Act
The petitioner was bound to pursue the elaborate mechanisms under sections 13, 26 and 29 of Cap 284 before coming to court; failure to do so weighed against granting relief
Sections 13, 14, 26 and 29 of the Land Adjudication Act provide mechanisms for lodging claims, objection to the adjudication register and appeals to the Minister, with quasi-judicial bodies (adjudication committees, arbitration board, adjudication officer, Minister) empowered to resolve disputes. The petitioner, claiming to hail from Nkaroui village, never appeared before the adjudication team and gave no plausible explanation for bypassing section 13 since the process was still at recording of rights stage.
Role of the adjudication committee in safeguarding residents' interests
Committees appointed from area residents act as the eyes and ears of residents, including safeguarding absent persons and persons with disabilities
Under section 6(1) the adjudication officer appoints not less than ten residents as the adjudication committee, and section 20 empowers the committee to adjudicate customary law questions, advise officers, safeguard absent persons and persons under disability, and bring unclaimed interests to officers' attention. The petitioners had not demonstrated they raised their concerns with the relevant committees.
Prior decisions of the same court on the same adjudication process
The court's earlier rulings in Meru ELC Petition 7 of 2017 and Petition 5 of 2019 allowed the adjudication process to continue, and granting the orders sought would conflict with those decisions
In Petition 7 of 2017 the court concluded the adjudication process should continue, and in Petition 5 of 2019 the court allowed the process to continue per the notice of 11.3.2016. The orders sought in the present application conflict with those in Petition 5 of 2019, and multiple pending petitions touching on the same area required simultaneous running to avoid confusion and absurdity.
Whether the 1st Respondent could allocate land to outsiders
The 1st Respondent has no power to allocate land to non-residents; the adjudication process was being conducted within the law with landowners participating
The DLASO swore that adjudication committees and demarcation teams were duly appointed with participation of land owners, over 40,000 parcels demarcated and 1,500 disputes registered and 1,200 determined - none from the petitioner. The allegation of allocation to foreigners was denied as the 1st respondent lacks such powers, and disputes over demarcation should be handled at objection hearings.
Legal principles established
#- The Land Adjudication Act is a self-contained statute with detailed procedures and its internal dispute resolution mechanisms must be exhausted before invoking the court's jurisdiction
- A temporary injunction is an equitable, discretionary remedy, never guaranteed as of right
Court orders
#- 1.The application dated 6/5/2019 is dismissed
- 2.Costs of the application awarded to the Respondents
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Articles 22, 23, 40 and 165 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010; Rules 3(1), 23 and 24 of the Constitution of Kenya (Protection of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) Practice and Procedure Rules, 2013
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Mike Makarena v District Land Adjudication and Settlement Officer Tigania East & 3 others [2020] KEELC 3687 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2020). Notice of Motion dated 6.5.2019 in Meru ELC Petition (2020). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2020/3687/eng@2020-01-16
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.