Court temporarily halts Mandera County land allocation
The dispute adds to a series of legal battles over community land in Mandera, with the High Court having recently faulted the county government for irregular boundary demarcations.
The Environment and Land Court has temporarily stopped the National Land Commission (NLC), the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, and the Mandera County government from allocating land in the county pending the hearing of a petition challenging the process.
In a ruling delivered on an application dated September 10, 2025, Justice John Mutungi barred the respondents from surveying, subdividing, alienating, or otherwise interfering with the disputed parcels until the case is determined.
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The court further directed that the petition and application be served on all respondents within 21 days and set the matter for mention on November 27, 2025.
The case was filed by petitioners, including MPs Hussein Weytan Abdirahman (Mandera East) and Mohamed Abdi Abdirahman (Lafey), alongside more than 40 residents of Mandera County.
They claim that Gazette Notice No. 7249 of May 30, 2025, and a subsequent notice of intention to allocate land published in the Standard newspaper on September 3, 2025, were irregularly issued.
Through lawyer Eric Kinaro, the petitioners argue that the notices were published without proper public participation, locking out communities that depend on the land for farming, fishing, and pastoralism.
They say the use of English-language newspapers further excluded a largely illiterate and marginalised population.
"The county government prepared its physical and land use development plan secretly to benefit private individuals at the expense of the community", they argue in court papers.
The MPs accuse the County Executive Committee Member in charge of Lands of colluding with the NLC to push through questionable allocations before the expiry of the commission's term in November 2025.
In their pleadings, the petitioners want the court to suspend the gazette notice and the newspaper advertisement, and to issue conservatory orders restraining the respondents from proceeding with the allocations. They insist that the process contravenes the Constitution and the Community Land Act, which safeguard community land rights.
The dispute adds to a series of legal battles over community land in Mandera, with the High Court having recently faulted the county government for irregular boundary demarcations.
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