Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision to block more than 1,000 squatters from filing a second appeal against the Court of Appeal's finding.
Bus company, Eldoret Express Ltd, has finally regained ownership of its 640- acre land in Trans Nzoia that was grabbed during the 2007 post-election violence.
This is after the Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision to block more than 1,000 squatters from filing a second appeal against the Court of Appeal's finding that the company is the registered owner of the disputed land, bringing to an end a 13-year-old legal dispute.
The squatters through their land buying company, Tawai Limited, wanted the Supreme Court to review its ruling dated March 17, 2021, which upheld the Court of Appeal's finding that the dispute did not raise constitutional issues or questions of public interest to warrant the apex court's intervention.
They requested the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling and reinstate their application for fresh hearing on grounds that the ruling was in breach of Article 50 of the Constitution on fair hearing.
But the judges rejected the request and said the squatters had not laid any basis, upon which the court should review its ruling.
"It is clear to us that the applicant has not laid any basis, upon which this Court should review its ruling. We find that the application for a second review is not merited," said the five-judge bench led by deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu. Other judges were Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung'u and Isaac Lenaola.
In urging for the review, the squatters faulted the Supreme Court, saying the ruling was made on “whimsical exercise of the top court’s discretion, which failed to appreciate that mortgages, leases and charges are areas of public importance, transcending this particular case”.
