Court of Appeal dismisses Mavoko residents' bid to block eviction from Portland Cement land
In its ruling, the court found that the residents had failed to demonstrate an arguable case that would justify its intervention through an injunction.
Members of the Mavoko Muundani Residents Association have lost their bid to block eviction from disputed land owned by East Africa Portland Cement (EAPC), after the Court of Appeal dismissed their case.
In a ruling delivered by Justices Patrick Kiage, Weldon Korir, and George Odunga, the court found that the residents had failed to demonstrate an arguable case that would justify its intervention through an injunction.
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The appellate judges criticised the applicants for not clearly outlining any substantial legal issues worth pursuing on appeal.
“Save for the general contention that the intended appeal is arguable and has chances of success, we are unable to find any arguable ground that faults the learned Judge's exercise of discretion,” the judges said.
The court further underscored that for it to grant the requested orders, the applicants needed to prove two things: that their appeal was arguable, and that failure to issue injunctions would render the appeal nugatory—criteria the residents failed to satisfy.
Led by David Musau, James Kigera, Michael Wambua, Daniel Kimweli, and Boniface Mutinda, the residents had moved to the Court of Appeal after the Environment and Land Court in Machakos dismissed their initial plea for interim orders in February 2025.
The contested parcels—L.R. No. 8784/144, 8784/145, and 8784/653—form part of a larger landholding that the cement company is currently regularising and allocating.
Through their lawyer, the residents argued that the regularisation process had become opaque, alleging that some individuals were being dispossessed and their plots reallocated to third parties, despite earlier public participation efforts.
The earlier decision by the High Court in Machakos had acknowledged that the land was registered under EAPC and that public participation had occurred to some extent. However, it found that the applicants had not established a prima facie case to halt the ongoing regularisation and sale process.
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