Lamu residents have filed an application seeking to be enjoined in a case where an advocate is challenging his arrest and prosecution over land fraud.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the residents claim that they have a significant identifiable stake and legal interest in the proceedings of the petition since they are the victim of the said land fraud.
“There are ex-parte orders granted in favor of the petitioner which derogates the constitutional rights of the Applicants/intended 4th & 5th respondents and as such it is just in the circumstance for them to be joined as parties in this petition,” Omari said.
In the case, lawyer Alex Githinji Njagi moved to court seeking orders restraining the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Inspector General of Police from detaining, arresting, charging, prosecuting or continuing with his prosecution or his associates or any other person within the law firm in which he practices with regard to any matter arising from the purchase of the suit properties in Lamu.
Njagi is the advocate of the investors/ 1st and 2nd interested parties- Goodison Nine Limited and Goodison Fifty Three Limited.
His law firm, Coulson Harney LLP acted for the two interested parties in certain aspects of their purchase of parcels of land known as Lamu/Manda Island/270, 271, 272, 380 and 381 which turned to be a subject of investigation and the matters are still pending determination at the Environment and Land Court.
On 10th November 2024, officers from DCI Lamu tried to arrest Njagi in Nairobi and had been looking for him without following the laid procedure in a bid to forestall the outcome of several cases before Malindi Environment and Land Court.
Njagi claims that the police are harassing him in order to exert pressure on him to withdraw from acting for the two interested parties.
The two Goodisons claim to have purchased the suit properties from the owners.
The residents now want to be enjoined to fight for what they claim to be their properties arguing that corruption in the Ministry of Lands is what led to the issuing of a new title deed to the foreign investors.
In addition, the court heard that the residents’ vested interests is clearly outlined and not remote owing to the apparent fact that the applicants/intended 4th & 5th respondents have at all material times been the registered owners of the subject parcels subject to this petition being LAMU/MANDA ISLAND/271 and LAMU/MANDA ISLAND /270 respectively.
“It is in the interests of justice that the application for joinder be dispensed with before substantive determination of the matter,” Omari said.
