State launches committee to speed up land and environmental cases stalling key projects

The government has formed a rapid results initiative committee to speed up over 10,500 land and environmental court cases that have delayed key state projects and exposed it to prolonged litigation.

These include 1,852 on land fraud cases, 1,283 involving double allocations, 315 on illegal acquisition of public land, 169 each on private land appropriation and evictions, 128 on compulsory acquisition, 40 linked to historical injustices, and 37 on the right to a clean and healthy environment.

Attorney General Dorcas Oduor unveiled the committee, which comprises a team of private sector advocates and state counsel from her office, with a mandate to categorise all pending cases in order of priority and come up with interventions to accelerate their resolution. The team will be supported by a secretariat drawn from the AG’s office.

Remedial measures

The committee is expected to develop remedial measures to address high-risk land and environmental cases that pose litigation risks to the government’s development agenda and critical infrastructure projects.

“The recommendations that the committee will make will help stakeholders in the land sector and policymakers in the county and national government in making decisions that will minimise the causes of land disputes and quick resolution when they occur to spur economic development,” Oduor said.

The Attorney General said the legal audit conducted by her office showed that the government is either a principal or interested party in all the 10,581 cases currently awaiting determination in court.

In addition to categorising and reviewing the active suits, the team will also review past judgments to understand legal trends and their implications on State litigation.

“In some cases, such as the double allocation of land, we expect the committee to vet and work with the people in the lands sector to come up with a genuine title deed that can be used in the courts to prove ownership. This will help us resolve such issues so that the government initiates projects,” she said.

Collect insights on disputes

The committee will also engage relevant government agencies and other stakeholders to collect insights on land and environmental disputes and explore the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

“Alternative dispute resolution methods will play a key role in resolving some of the problems that we are having in court. It is upon this committee to review and engage the stakeholders to ensure that some of the cases are resolved outside court to fasten the process of getting justice,” Oduor added.

She said the initiative would not only unblock stalled projects but also help the government avoid future legal exposure by supporting reforms in the land sector and strengthening dispute resolution frameworks.

The move marks one of the AG’s latest efforts to align legal processes with the government’s development priorities and to ensure that public projects are not unnecessarily delayed by prolonged litigation.