Justice Ombwayo in a spot for issuing two similar rulings in property dispute

Nakuru ELC Judge Anthony Ombwayo at the court during the War Memorial Hospital case  February 5 ,2024. [FILE, Standard]

Former Nakuru Environment and Land Court Judge Anthony Ombwayo is on the spot for issuing two similar rulings in a dispute over the property of late Nakuru nominated MP Phillip Kamau.

Judge Ombwayo, who left Nakuru station in January 2026 after a transfer, issued the two similar rulings on November 27, 2025, and January 22, 2026, respectively.

According to the Civil Procedure Act (CPC), although two rulings on the same subjects and parties may show the court’s consistency, it may also create legal, procedural, and practical complications.

The rules depict that similar rulings lead to confusion, embarrassment to the court, and lower public confidence in the judicial system.

Other impacts include accusations of abuse of court process, triggering the sub-judice rules, and confusion regarding enforcement.

“If the second ruling was made while the execution of the first was pending, then the court may have to correct or abandon the second ruling,” reads the CPC.

Further, the procedure notes that multiple identical rulings unnecessarily increase costs for litigants and waste the court’s time and resources.

“Once a court has disposed of a matter, it no longer has jurisdiction to alter or decide on the same matter, because it would be invalid,” reads the CPC.

However, the code notes that sometimes similar orders are issued to maintain consistency or correct errors.

The code also notes that due to high caseloads, a judge might inadvertently issue a similar ruling due to a mix-up.

In the two orders, Ombwayo found one of Kamau’s widows guilty of abusing the court process when she attempted the land dispute’s proceeding and judgment.

Lucy Wanjiru wanted the proceedings and judgment stayed in the dispute over ownership of a 3-acre property in Dundori, which forms part of Kamau’s estate estimated to be worth over Sh1 billion.

Wanjiru is fighting Kamau’s daughter, Elizabeth Wanjiku, for the ownership of the prime land.

“The application is an abuse of the court process because the applicant (Wanjiru) cannot make an application to stay proceedings that she has commenced,” ruled Ombwayo.

According to Ombwayo, Wanjiru attempted to twist the property dispute and, if possible, stall the hearing of the case.

The judge noted that the case was first slotted for judgment on December 17, 2024, and a year had passed without any progress.

He also ruled that Wanjiru will represent her co-widows, Teresia Njeri and Margaret Damat, and her stepson Joseph Njuguna in the case, dismissing their application to join the case.

Wanjiru wanted the three kin to be part of the case, insisting that their seclusion had occasioned great prejudice to them, being administrators of the estate.

Wanjiru also argued that although she was one of the administrators, she was, in law, not competent to represent the estate alone.

In the property dispute, Wanjiru claims that she was gifted the property by Kamau on June 13, 2009.

However, Wanjiku submits that the property was not exclusively allocated to Wanjiru and that her title deed was legally cancelled through a gazette notice on January 22, 2016.