National Land Commission v Wambugu (Miscellaneous Civil Application 2B of 2024) [2026] KEELC 3024 (KLR)

The court held that review is made to the court which passed the decree, and here the Applicant abandoned the original suit and filed a miscellaneous application without the actual suit file, so the court could not competently decide it. On the merits, none of the statutory grounds - discovery of new and important matter, error apparent on the face of the record, or sufficient reason - was made out. The grounds advanced were attacks on the judgment amounting to grounds of appeal, which cannot qualify as grounds for review.

Relying on the Oaths and Statutory Declarations Act (Cap 15), the court noted that a Commissioner of Oaths must be appointed by the Chief Justice and gazetted, and must state in the jurat the place and date the affidavit is taken. Applying Black's Law Dictionary as adopted in Muktar Bishar Sheikh v IEBC, an affidavit must be voluntary, written and commissioned; the absence of commissioning means the document is not an affidavit known in law and cannot stand as evidence.