National Assembly can heave with relief after the Voi High Court granted its prayers to strike out the inclusion of the Implementation Committee as a respondent to a land related petition.
The Environment and land Court Judge Justice Edward Wabwoto removed the Committee as the seventh respondent in a petition filed by the Mwasima Mbuwa Welfare Association.
The National Assembly argued that the Parliamentary Committees are immune to legal proceedings and inclusion of the committee as a respondent was a breach of Article 117 of the constitution.
“The National Assembly is a Constitutional entity capable of being sued on its own capacity, hence the Petition questioning the actions or omissions of the National Assembly, or its committees can only be instituted against the National Assembly,” argued the National Assembly.
The assembly further held that there was no justifiable cause of action against the committee in question, which had been wrongly dragged into the proceedings.
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“There is no justifiable cause of action against the seventh respondent who has been erroneously dragged into these proceedings,” read part of the affidavit.
Reprieve for National Assembly
Likewise, Justice Wabwoto granted leave to the Petitioner, to amend his Petition to substitute the Committee with the National Assembly as the seventh respondent.
Consequently, the case is about a protracted land -dispute between Mwasima Mbuwa Welfare and entities including Teita Sisal Estate limited, County government of Taita Taveta, ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigations services among others.
According to court documents, the petitioner dragged the National Assembly in the pre-existing land dispute on December 2,2014. This, according to the Petitioner was when the 11th Parliament’s Departmental Committee on Lands directed key stakeholders in the Ministry of Lands to carry out a survey on the contentious property.
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Apparently, said survey was meant to ascertain the boundaries of the suit property.
The Petitioner averts that the teams from the National Government and the County Government of Taita Taveta did not agree on the outcome, resulting in two contradicting reports.
Additionally, the welfare association stated that the then Cabinet secretary for Lands Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi ratified the Petitioner’s report and forwarded the same to Parliament.
Subsequently, the petitioner argues that the 11th Parliament debated and endorsed the report for implementation.
The Petition will be heard on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
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PHOTO/ARDHI HOUSE
