The High Court has temporarily barred Kajiado County Government from taking over or interfering with the management of Amboseli National Park pending the hearing of an urgent application.
In a ruling dated July 12, 2026, Justice Gregory Mutai certified the application as urgent and set the matter for hearing on July 24, 2026.
The court also restrained the Kajiado County Government, Governor Joseph Ole Lenku, its employees, agents and any person acting on its behalf from entering the park, taking control of its operations or management, or implementing the Deed of Transfer dated October 14, 2025, until the application is heard and determined.
The orders were issued in a case filed by rights activist Joseph Kasau Masaa, who argues that the county government acted in defiance of conservatory orders earlier issued by the court suspending the implementation of the transfer of Amboseli National Park.
Justice Mutai directed that the Notice of Motion dated July 9, 2026, together with the court orders, be served on all respondents and interested parties within three working days. The respondents and interested parties will then have seven days after service to file and serve their responses.
The judge further ordered that the application be heard in open court on July 24 at 10:00 am and allowed all parties to file skeleton submissions on or before 5:00 pm on July 23.
“Any disobedience or non-observance of the order of the court served herewith will result in penal consequences to you and any other person(s) disobeying and not observing the same,” Justice Mutai ruled.
Governor Lenku has also been summoned to appear before the court on July 24 to answer contempt proceedings over allegations that he defied the conservatory orders suspending the transfer of the park to the county government.
If found guilty of contempt, the governor could face sanctions, including a possible six-month jail term or any other penalty the court may impose. However, the High Court has not made any finding of contempt, with the matter set for hearing later this month.
The court action comes days after Governor Lenku accused the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) of refusing to implement a presidential agreement on revenue sharing from Amboseli National Park.
Appearing before the Senate Public Accounts Committee on July 9, 2026, Lenku said county officials were turned away when they attempted to collect the county government’s agreed share of the park’s revenue from July 1.
According to the governor, the refusal came despite a deed of transfer signed by President William Ruto in November 2025.
“On July 1 this year, which was last week, the county government went to the site to pick their 50 per cent share of revenue, and KWS said, ‘No, we have no instructions.’ And you know these are armed agencies, security agencies, so the county staff was told, ‘Go away,’” Lenku told the committee.
Lenku argued that KWS’s actions went against the transfer agreement that handed management of Amboseli National Park to Kajiado County Government and established a phased revenue-sharing plan.
Under the agreement, revenue from the park is to be collected jointly through the e-Citizen platform, with the national and county governments each receiving 50 per cent during the 2026/2027 financial year. The county’s share is expected to rise to 70 per cent in the 2027/2028 financial year before increasing to 100 per cent from the 2028/2029 financial year.
The governor questioned why KWS had allegedly failed to honour an agreement endorsed by the President.
“How does KWS come and outrightly defy the presidency? What country have we become? What are these instruments that the president gave, including symbols of animals in Amboseli that were handed to me on the 8th of November, 2025, signifying that the transition has been completed?” he posed.
Lenku further said the Maasai community surrounding the park had expanded the conservation area by providing an additional one million acres during the transition period between 2023 and 2025 and now wanted to benefit from the park’s revenue.
“Amboseli Park is only 82,000 acres. The community, in the transition period between 2023 and 2025, gave an additional 1 million acres because the park is just like a small wetland. The community has come forward to say, ‘Where is the money for our 1 million acres?’” he posed.
Following the dispute, Senate Public Accounts Committee chairperson Moses Kajwang directed the committee secretariat to summon both KWS and Kajiado County Government within 14 days to explain the disagreement over the implementation of the transfer agreement and revenue sharing.
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