A Kajiado Court on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, barred the Kajiado County Government from arresting plot owners who have refused to comply with the new land rates law, that was passed by the Kajiado County Assembly.
Lawyer Shadrack Wambui representing the plot owners, urged the court to also bar the County Government of Kajiado from imposing the new rates and repossessing plots with land rates arrears of three years.
Judge Mugo David Mwangi granted Wambui’s request and barred the County government from arresting any person who has not yet complied with the new increased land rent for allotted land.
In a petition filed before the Kajiado Law Court, the land owners from Kajiado North and East Constituency residents moved to court challenging the new introduced land rates by the County Government and the County Assembly of Kajiado.
In their petition, they accuse the Kajiado County Assembly and Government of hiking land rates from Ksh2,000 to between Ksh6,500 and Ksh7,500 which they say is exorbitant, unlawful and unconstitutional.
Furthermore, they argue that the County Assembly of Kajiado passed the increment of the rates motion without first engaging the residents through public participation as per the constitution.
They said that the sudden imposition of the rates which they term as excessive and arbitrary rates are four times the original rate, that which failure to pay would unjustly result in the loss of their lands.
The Director of Revenue, Land Rent and Rates Unit on January 1, 2025, published revised rent and rate schedules for various constituencies within Kajiado.
Subsequently, the petition states that County Government and County Assembly of Kajiado announced that they were in the process of earmarking for repossession all plots with three consecutive years of arrears.
“In a notice dated 28th February 2025, the Respondents announced that, pursuant to the 2023 Kajiado Finance Act, they were in the process of earmarking for repossession all plots with three consecutive years of arrears, citing authority under Section 14(7) of the Act,” part of the petition read in parts.
The petition further cites that a proper interpretation of the law requires that the three-year default period should be calculated prospectively from the Act’s effective date before any repossession action can lawfully occur.
Judge Mwangi directed that the case will be heard on April 29, 2025.