In a ruling delivered on an application dated September 10, 2025, Justice John Mutungi barred the respondents from surveying, subdividing, alienating, or otherwise interfering with the disputed parcels until the case is heard and determined.
The court further directed that the petition and application be served on all respondents within 21 days and set the matter for further directions on November 27, 2025.
The case was filed by MPs Hussein Weytan Abdirahman (Mandera East) and Mohamed Abdi Abdirahman (Lafey), alongside more than 40 residents of Mandera county.
They claim that Gazette Notice No. 7249 of May 30, 2025, and a subsequent notice of intention to allocate land in the county were irregularly issued.
Through lawyer Eric Kinaro, the petitioners argue that the notices were published without proper public participation, locking out communities that depend on the land for farming, fishing, and pastoralism.
They say the use of English-language newspapers further excluded a largely illiterate and marginalised population.
The residents allege that the county government prepared its physical and land use development plan secretly to benefit private individuals at the expense of the community.
They accuse the county executive for lands of colluding with the National Land Commission to push through questionable allocations before the expiry of the commission’s term in November 2025.
In their pleadings, the petitioners want the court to suspend the gazette notice and the newspaper advertisement, and to issue conservatory orders restraining the respondents from proceeding with the allocations.
They insist that the process contravenes the Constitution and the Community Land Act, which safeguard community land rights.
Having considered the application, Justice Mutungi granted the orders sought.
“That pending the hearing and determination of this application interpartes, a conservatory order be and is hereby issued suspending the implementation of the Gazette Notice No. 7249 dated 30th May 2025 and the notice of intention to allocated land and was published in the newspaper relating to the subject community land,” the judge ordered.
The dispute adds to a series of legal battles over community land in Mandera, with the High Court having recently faulted the county government for irregular boundary demarcations.
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