Tribunal Thwarts NMS Boss Badi’s Plot to Award Jamia Mosque Sh3.9bn for Globe Cinema Roundabout Land

Land Acquisition Tribunal quashes gazette notices in bungled acquisition process that left mosque trustees seeking billions in compensation

A Land Acquisition Tribunal has delivered a crushing blow to what appears to have been a poorly executed land acquisition scheme initiated by former Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Director-General Mohamed Badi, rejecting the Jamia Mosque’s bid for Sh3.9 billion compensation.

The tribunal, chaired by Dr Nabil Orina and member George Supeyo, quashed multiple gazette notices published between 2021 and 2023, ruling that the compulsory acquisition process for land near Globe Cinema Roundabout was fundamentally flawed and incomplete.

The controversial acquisition began in 2021 under Badi’s leadership at NMS, with the National Land Commission (NLC) publishing gazette notices intended to acquire land parcel L.R. No 209/136/259 for the construction of the Globe Roundabout Public Transport Terminal.

Jamia Mosque, Nairobi.

However, the tribunal found that while the process was “properly commenced,” it was subsequently “mismanaged,” leaving the registered trustees of Jamia Masjid Ahle Sunait Wal Jamai in legal limbo and unable to fully utilize their property.

“The intended acquisition was left hanging and in the process, prevented the registered trustees from fully using the land,” the tribunal noted in its ruling.

NMS-County government blame game

When NMS was dissolved and its functions transferred back to Nairobi County Government, the acquisition process was abandoned without proper closure.

This created a messy situation where neither the county government nor the NLC took responsibility for completing or formally canceling the acquisition.

The county government distanced itself from the process, with lawyer Titus Koceyo arguing that the original request by NMS was “irregularly done” since it didn’t originate from the county executive committee member responsible for lands, as required by law.

The NLC, meanwhile, maintained that the gazettement of the property didn’t constitute actual compulsory acquisition and that the trustees’ compensation claim was “speculative, premature and not founded in law.”

The tribunal expressed frustration with both institutions’ handling of the matter, questioning why neither the NLC nor the county government had taken steps to resolve the property’s uncertain status.

“Since city hall was no longer interested in the acquisition of the land, it should have instructed NLC to withdraw the notices, instead of trading blame,” the tribunal observed.

The ruling emphasized that the NLC has a duty to “manage the process of compulsory acquisition” and should “take active steps to revoke intended acquisitions which are no longer needed or which fail to comply with the law.”

While the tribunal declared that both the NLC and Nairobi County Government had violated Jamia Mosque’s property rights through their “actions and omissions,” it firmly rejected the trustees’ prayer for Sh3.9 billion compensation.

“We find that the compulsory acquisition process over the claimant’s property is yet to be completed to warrant the claim for compensation,” Dr Orina ruled.

The tribunal issued an order quashing Gazette Notices No. 5402 and 10279 of 2021, 207 and 15995 of 2022, and 641 of 2023, effectively ending the troubled acquisition attempt.

Legacy of poor governance

The case highlights the institutional confusion and poor coordination that characterized some of the projects initiated during Badi’s tenure at NMS.

The former military officer, who was appointed to run NMS in 2020, oversaw several controversial urban development projects before the entity was dissolved in 2022.

The Jamia Mosque land dispute serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of following proper legal procedures in compulsory land acquisition and the consequences of institutional mismanagement on private property rights.

The mosque trustees, while unsuccessful in their compensation claim, can now proceed with full use of their property following the tribunal’s declaration that the acquisition notices are null and void.