KPA directive to rail container to Nairobi illegal

Lawyers Pheroze Nowrojee, Fred Ngatia and attorney general Githu Muigai at the Supreme Court on 21/9/2015. [George Njung’e]

A lawyer has dismissed as illegal a contract between two State agencies allowing port services to be moved from Mombasa to Nairobi.

Senior Counsel Pheroze Nowrojee told a five-judge bench that neither the Kenya Ports Authority nor the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) had the mandate to sign such an agreement.

Mr Nowrojee said that transporting the containers from Mombasa port to the Embakasi Container Freight Station (CFS) would lead to job losses for coastal residents.

“How will Mombasa youths access employment if port jobs are moved to Embakasi CFS? Taking jobs away with impunity violates the youths’ rights to employment as enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.

Nowrojee is representing William Ramogi, Asha Omar and Gerald Kiti who are seeking orders to compel the ministry of Transport to hand over port management to Mombasa County. The three assert that the county has lost business opportunities since the Standard Gauge Railway started transporting containers from the port to Nairobi.

The judges hearing the petition are justices Lydia Achode, Erick Ogola, Joel Ngugi, Antony Murima and Pauline Nyamweya.

But lawyers Cecil Miller and Nguguyu Wachira opposed the petition, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter because the State had means of settling such disputes.

The judges are expected to rule this Friday on whether to strike out the entire petition or allow it.