Dumbeiya v Okoth & 2 others; Obiero & 3 others (Proposed Interested Parties) (Environment & Land Case 54 of 2020) [2023] KEELC 782 (KLR)

Applying Order 1 rule 10(2) of the Civil Procedure Rules and the Supreme Court's decision in Communication Commission of Kenya v Royal Media Services, the court held that a person with an alleged interest or claim on the land in issue, who will be affected by the orders ultimately issued, ought to be joined. The allotment letters disclosed an alleged interest in the land, so joinder was justified.

The court traced the chronology: the injunction of 29th July 2020 was stayed on 4th August 2020 and the status quo orders of 24th March 2021, confirmed on 14th April 2021, restrained all parties from developing, alienating, trespassing or encroaching. Since those later orders displaced the earlier injunction, the earlier orders were no longer in force and could not be set aside.

Under the Government Lands Act (repealed), allocation of unalienated Government land required an approved PDP, an allotment letter, compliance with its terms, and a Cadastral Survey approved by the Director of Surveys before a land reference number issued. The Interested Parties produced only allotment letters with no evidence of survey, so there was no basis to order the visit or the report.

The orders of 14th April 2021 were clear, unambiguous and binding on all parties including the Interested Parties, who were aware of them having obtained them. Their reliance on their own surveyor's report to continue constructing was dishonest, as the locality issue remains pending before the court and the report was not based on a Cadastral Survey approved by the Director of Surveys. The court found contempt proved to the requisite standard.