Swazuri team fights arrest warrant, Sh1m fine for contempt

The chairman of the National Land Commission (NLC) moved to court Wednesday seeking to overturn a warrant of arrest and fines imposed on him and three other commissioners for contempt.

Mr Mohamed Swazuri and commissioners Tomiik Mbuya, Abigail Mbagaya and Emma Muthoni Njogu told the court that their conviction in absentia was erroneous since they had not been personally served with the intention to cite them.

The court had ordered they each pay Sh250,000 or face three months in jail for publicly discussing a matter under civil litigation.

In the ex parte application, filed under a certificate of urgency, the four said they were living in fear of arrest and urged the court to stay its judgement to enable them contest it citing “non-service on their person”.

Environment and Land Court Judge Sila Munyao allowed the commissioners to pursue their application but ordered them to deposit Sh100,000 each as a sign of good faith before the file is mentioned.

Last week, Justice Munyao found that the four ought to be punished for their bad example to other senior government officers and the public at large.

The court directed the Inspector General of Police to serve the warrant and escort the NLC commissioners to Nakuru GK Prison within the next two weeks.

The four, said Justice Munyao had been given a chance to defend their actions of discussing a matter under litigation even after they were warned by lawyers representing Lomolo (1962) Limited in a complaint filed by 150 members of the Kombeiywo community over alleged historic injustice.

Lawyer John Githui for Lomolo successfully sought orders citing the four for contempt saying NLC advertised the complaint by Kombeiywo against Lomolo and invited all parties in the dispute to their headquarters for a sitting.

Mr Githui attended the sitting and delivered the order but received a tongue-lashing from the commissioners who told him: “NLC is a constitutional commission that enjoys independence against interference from the courts”.

The lawyer proceeded to leave in protest as the Kombeiywo presented their case. The legal dispute started late last year after the High Court sitting in Nakuru heard a petition from a group of 150 squatters who demanded to be granted a right to ownership or a share of a 3,500-acre piece of land where sisal farming is practiced on an intensive scale.

They averred that they had lived on the farm for generations and their eviction amounted to a historic injustice but their plea was dismissed after the court ruled that their relation with Lomolo was a worker-employer relationship that usually ends on termination of the employment contract.

It was after this decision that the Kombeiywo filed a complaint with NLC and the matter was advertised in the dailies and listed for hearing with all parties summoned for a plenary session over the farm.

Mr Githui proceeded to move the court saying its reputation was in jeopardy since the four commissioners had openly shown total disregard to the court order that showed that courts were useless and powerless. Yesterday, NLC said that its commissioners were never served and the judgement as imposed could not hold and must fail.