- Business Daily in Kenya reports that a local community has won a second round of a court battle to take back the 150,000-acre tract of land on which the 310MW Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project is constructed.
- The court in 2021 ruled that the power company irregularly acquired the title deeds to the land where the project sits adding that the law was not followed.
- The land is now set to revert to locals after a one-year window issued in 2021 to regularise the deal lapsed.
On Thursday the High Court handed the firm its second blow after it rejected an application for an extension of time to regularise the process of acquisition.
A bench of three judges of the Environment and Land Court threw out the plea by LTWP for more time and a review of the decision issued in November 2021, nullifying title deeds to the land.
Justices Peter Muchoki, Yuvinalis Angima and Grace Kemei said the law has given some timelines in which the Cabinet Secretary for land is expected to survey and demarcate and register community land, and the one-year period, which was granted by the court in 2021 was quite generous.
“For the above reasons, in our considered view, the extension of time will not serve any purpose as the parties, by their conduct, appear unwilling to commence the process of conversion of the land,” said the judges.
The LTWP sought a review of the decision arguing that it had spent Euros 623 million or approximately Sh80.9 billion for the project and the firm was set to lose the investment if the land reverted to the community.
The court in 2021 ruled that the power company irregularly acquired the title deeds to the land where the project sits adding that the law was not followed.
But even after issuing the decision, the court gave the firm amnesty of one year to regularise the acquisition process, failure to which the land where the 310MW power producer sits, will automatically revert to the community.
The time has since expired.
Link to full article HERE
Source: Business Daily
