Rehema Academy Limited v Sidian Bank Limited & another (Land Case E033 of 2025) [2026] KEELC 2348 (KLR)
The bottom line
#The Kisii Environment and Land Court struck out an injunction bid over a charged property, ruling that charge and bank sale disputes belong in the High Court, not the ELC.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Jurisdiction of the ELC over charge/mortgage and statutory power of sale disputes
The ELC lacks jurisdiction; such disputes are commercial matters for the High Court, following Cooperative Bank of Kenya v Patrick Kangethe Njuguna.
The court applied the Court of Appeal's binding holding that a charge, though a disposition of land, has nothing to do with the use of land within Article 162(2)(b). Contracts within Section 13 of the ELC Act must be incidental to land use and exclude mortgages and charges. The Applicant's debt to the 1st Respondent arose from a Kshs 15,000,000 loan secured by a charge whose power of sale had crystallized; the substance was debt recovery, so jurisdiction failed and the merits were not addressed.
Whether the death of a director and pending succession proceedings justified restraining the chargee's sale
Not determined; the court declined to reach the merits after finding no jurisdiction.
The Applicant argued the director's death and pending succession, and its willingness to redeem the loan, warranted an injunction. The 1st Respondent countered that the applicant's obligations as a juridical entity are distinct from the director's estate and that awaiting succession was futile. The court held jurisdiction must be resolved first and, finding none, did not address the merits of the injunction.
Legal principles established
#- A charge is an interest in land securing repayment of money; its creation relates to realization of security, not to use of land, so charge and mortgage disputes fall within the High Court's civil jurisdiction, not the ELC's.
- Section 13 contracts jurisdiction of the ELC extends only to contracts incidental to the use of land and does not include mortgages, charges, or collection of dues and rents.
- A court without jurisdiction produces a nullity ab initio.
Court orders
#- 1.The application dated 7th October, 2025, be struck out with costs in the cause
- 2.The orders of injunction which were subsisting pending the determination of the application are hereby vacated and or discharged
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Article 162(2)(b) of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Environment and Land Court Act (court held it LACKS jurisdiction over the charge dispute)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Rehema Academy Limited v Sidian Bank Limited & another (Land Case E033 of 2025) [2026] KEELC 2348 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2026). Not stated in judgment (notice of motion dated October 7, 2025). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2026/2348/eng@2026-04-16
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.