The Environment and Land Court has halted construction of residential flats in Parklands, Nairobi linked to Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif, marking a new development in a long-running land dispute.
The court issued preservation orders barring any development, sale, or transfer of four prime parcels following an application by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which is investigating the suspected illegal conversion of public land into private property.
The court prohibited entry, excavation, construction, occupation, sale, transfer, or charging of the properties and scheduled the case hearing for March 5, 2026. The orders will remain in force for six months.
The EACC’s urgent application alleges unlawful alienation of land originally reserved for a public utility. The commission claims the parcels, measuring between 0.157 and 0.2157 hectares, were fraudulently acquired and later registered under private ownership.
The respondents in the case include Hanosa Developers Limited, Leah Bosibori, Alloy Maore, and Mr Khalif. Investigators trace the land’s history to L.R. No. 209/8262, initially registered under the Nairobi City Council for a public school and associated facilities.
Court documents reveal the land was first ‘unlawfully’ allocated to Hellen Njeri in 1995 before being transferred to Shaheensha Investments Limited in 1997. In February 2004, Shaheensha transferred it to Richard Maoka Maore, who then sold it to governor Khalif in 2021.
‘Ongoing investigations have not disclosed any material indicating that the parcels were lawfully allocated or alienated for private use, including residential purposes,’ stated the EACC’s advocate.
The commission argues that part of the land adjacent to the school was reserved for a social hall, not residential development, and that the disputed parcels were unlawfully excised from this public utility zone.
It contends that the alienation violated multiple laws. The EACC further alleges that the letters of allotment used to create private titles were based on unapproved or unregistered part-development plans, rendering them ‘invalid, null, and void.’
The commission also implicates former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja, accusing him of facilitating the alienation ‘without legal authority.’
Seeking urgent court intervention, the EACC warned that without preservation orders, the integrity of its investigation would be compromised. It requested a six-month freeze to allow for completion of investigations and potential recovery proceedings to return the contested land to the government.
The court granted the interim relief, effectively halting all construction and transactions on the disputed land.
The latest orders contrast with a recent ruling in a separate suit filed by the school’s board of management, where the court declined to stop construction at an interim stage.
In that case, the judge cited insufficient evidence of the school’s ownership of the land and the presence of regulatory approvals, allowing construction to proceed pending a full hearing.
This time, however, the case is driven by a statutory anti-graft probe.
The EACC insists the land was reserved for public utility and ‘was not available for private allocation whatsoever.’
Preserving the properties, it argues, is crucial to prevent further transactions that could hinder recovery efforts if the land is found to have been unlawfully acquired.
The respondents are yet to file their defense.