Kenya: Local community's suit against Lake Turkana Wind Power for alleged unlawful land acquisition resumes
"Lake Turkana Wind Power case to resume today"
The hearing of the Sh70 billion Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) case which has been pending in court for five year resumes today, coming five months after it stalled when judges disqualified themselves from the matter...The case pitting Kenya’s largest private-sector project against a section of Marsabit County residents had stalled in July when Justices Boaz Olao, Enock Cherono and Lucy Mbugua recused themselves after a lawyer questioned their impartiality and allegedly used “intemperate language and disparaging remarks”...
Eighteen witnesses have already testified in the case where a section of Marsabit County residents claim that Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited was irregularly allocated their ancestral land. Mohamed Itarakwa, Kochale Jomo Jale, Issa Jitengwe Gambare and David Tomasot Arakhole filed the case. They claim that the acquisition was not done in accordance with the Trust Land Act and the Constitution and thus want it nullified and the land reverted to the community. The residents say they cannot access the expansive land for grazing, and want the nullification of the title deed issued to the wind power company which seeks to generate 310mw to the national grid. They have enjoined the Marsabit County government, the Attorney-general, the Chief Land Registrar and the National Land Commission as respondents.