Evangelical Church of Christ in Africa (Hera Mar Adier) (Suing through Bishop & Secretary) & another v Church of Christ Africa CCA (Kwogo) (Being Sued through Its Officials) & 3 others (Environment and Land Case E010 of 2024) [2026] KEELC 390 (KLR)

The court compared the parties in the 2005 suit with the present parties and found no overlap: ECCA's registration certificate dates from 2011, after the 2005 suit was filed, and none of the present defendants feature among the 12 defendants in the 2005 case. The plaint in the 2005 suit did not refer to the parcel, and paragraph 35 of Aburili J's judgment, listing seven properties, did not include SIAYA/USIGU/4444 or its mother title. The ownership of the parcel was therefore neither litigated nor determined.

The Bondo ruling by J.P. Nandi struck out the adverse possession suit as res judicata the Kisumu HCC No. 121 of 2005 judgment. Since theBondosuit was never heard on its merits and no determination was made on ownership by adverse possession, it cannot satisfy the requirement that the issue was heard and finally determined in the former suit. The present adverse possession claim over Siaya/Usigu/4444 was thus never determined on merit.