Judge orders City Hall to pay KAA Sh1.5m for evicting staff

Nairobi City County has been ordered to pay Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) Sh1.5 million for trespassing and evicting its staff from contested houses in Embakasi Village more than a decade ago.

Justice J.M. Onyango said the persistent trespass of the defunct City Council of Nairobi officials into the contested houses, with the intent of collecting rent from KAA staff, was wrong and which should be punished.

“Consequently, Plaintiff sufficiently proved that Defendant had trespassed onto its property and is therefore entitled to the reliefs sought in the plaint,” he said.

Justice Onyango also issued a permanent injunction, barring the county government from demanding rent, evicting or in any manner, dealing with the occupation of the houses in Embakasi. The court awarded KAA Sh1 million for general damages and a further Sh500,000 for trespass.

Evidence presented to the court was that KAA was allocated the land in 1958, where it established a housing estate known as Embakasi Village. The houses were meant for its staff then known as the Department of Aerodromes and other civil servants who worked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

But in January 1998, city council officials stormed the houses, claiming to own the property and sought to evict the occupants unless they paid rent. The KAA moved to court and the matter was settled by consent.

In the consent, it was agreed that some 42 houses belonged to KAA but the market and social hall, belonged to the county government.

About seven years later, City Hall was at it again and moved to evict KAA staff from four houses unless they paid rent, forcing KAA to move back to court.