Kamau v Ali (Environment and Land Appeal E030 of 2024) [2025] KEELC 8264 (KLR)

Relying on Kenya Ports Authority vs Modern Holdings, the court held jurisdiction can be raised at any stage, even for the first time on appeal. Further, under the IEBC vs Maina Kiai elements, the former decision-maker must itself have had jurisdiction; here the Tribunal's own jurisdiction was under challenge, so the prior ruling could not bar the appeal.

Both parties agreed the lease was written and for 15 years. Section 2(1) confines controlled tenancies to written leases not exceeding five years or with termination provisions operable within five years. The Tribunal's implied-term reasoning could not cure this, since by the time the 2020 termination notice issued, ten years had elapsed from commencement. Jurisdiction flows only from statute and cannot be implied.

The court traced the succession history: the 1985 consent order allocated residential quarters exclusively to the Appellant; subsequent certificates were cancelled and rectified by orders of 2011, 2020 and 2024. The lease was made with Leah Mukami on the strength of a later-revoked title, and the Respondent was notified to vacate from as early as 2010 and again in July 2020 but refused. The eviction did not legitimise a tenancy that never existed.

Under Section 27 of the Civil Procedure Act costs follow the event unless the court for good reason otherwise orders. The Appellant succeeded and there were no justifiable reasons to depart from the general rule. The court also indicated it was not convinced the Respondent was entitled to the costs assessed by the Tribunal.