Paika & 27 others v Nkipapai & 16 others; National Land Commission & 96 others (Interested Parties) (Environment and Land Case E043 of 2022) [2025] KEELC 7756 (KLR)
The bottom line
#The Environment and Land Court in Kajiado refused to stop a county taskforce, ruling that the defendants should have used judicial review instead of filing duplicate cases.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the court should permanently stop the Governor's Rombo Taskforce Committee from determining the Rombo Group Ranch subdivision dispute
The application was dismissed; the Applicants sought a judicial review-type remedy (prohibition) through a civil suit, which is improper, and had already filed an identical application by way of judicial review in the High Court.
The court held that the application, though brought under Sections 1, 1A, 3 and 3A of the Civil Procedure Act, was in substance an application for the judicial review order of prohibition through the back door. The proper way to challenge a taskforce was judicial review, which the Applicants had already done in High Court Judicial Review No. E009 of 2023. Filing identical applications in two courts of equal status was forum shopping and an abuse of court process.
Whether the application constituted an abuse of process
Yes - the application was improper, without legal basis, and an affront to laid down rules and procedures.
The Applicants had not disclosed their identical judicial review application pending before the High Court. The court, citing Salat v IEBC, held that courts must never aid in bending or circumventing rules. The application was an attempt to hijack the plaintiffs' property rights suit into a contest with the County Government, who were not principal parties in the suit.
Legal principles established
#- Only an order of prohibition, obtained through judicial review, may forbid an inferior tribunal or body from continuing proceedings in excess of its jurisdiction
- Identical applications filed in two courts of equal status constitute forum shopping
Court orders
#- 1.The 1st-16th Defendants' Notice of Motion dated 29th February 2024 is dismissed
- 2.Costs of the application to the cause (awarded against the Applicants)
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Order as an interlocutory application under Sections 1, 1A, 3 and 3A of the Civil Procedure Act within the main suit
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Paika & 27 others v Nkipapai & 16 others; National Land Commission & 96 others (Interested Parties) (Environment and Land Case E043 of 2022) [2025] KEELC 7756 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). . Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2025/7756/eng@2025-11-06
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.