Lawyers blamed for SGR case delay

The High Court in Mombasa now wants lawyers in the Sh4 billion Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) land compensation dispute to expeditiously conclude the matter that has been in court since 2016.

Justice Charles Yano said the lawyers were wasting time by filing several applications instead of dealing with the main suit to its conclusion.

Justice Yano directed the parties to record a consent on how they wish to proceed with the petition and decide on whether to abandon all the applications filed before him.

"All of you are wasting the court's time. This is a 2016 matter and needs to be dealt with expeditiously. I have other matters to attend to. You should seek instructions from your clients and consent on whether to abandon the applications and proceed with the main petition," he said.

The judge sad the parties had already agreed to proceed with the petition and there was no more filing of applications that would delay the full hearing of the matter.

In the suit, Kahia Transporters and Trade Lead Limited has sued the National Land Commission (NLC) over its intention to compensate Chunky Limited, Curly Wurly Limited and Julius Kea Mbawa.

On November 8, 2017, Justice Yano issued an order stopping compensation to the residents of Kwale until the dispute was resolved.

The protracted court battle has delayed the payout since then.

The NLC has however asked the court to vacate the injunction to allow it start compensating parties whose land the government acquired for the project.

Kahia and Trade Lead Limited stopped the compensation after filing an application contesting the boundary of 12 plots along the SGR corridor. The case will be heard on December 4 2019.