Freemasons seek compensation from City Hall in land rates row

The Freemasons Society has moved to court seeking compensation from Nairobi County following the clamping of their property over a Sh19 million land rates row.

The Masonic Trustees, in their case filed before High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye, claimed that the county was aware that they were exempt from paying rates.

They asserted that although the county had been recalling the other notices it issued over the property located on Nyerere Road in Nairobi, it decided to invade and encroach on it.

Court papers read that the county caused damage in the process.

On 14th May 2025, the Respondent, acting through its agents and/or representatives, unlawfully entered upon the Petitioner's property, used excessive force to demolish the gate, and affixed a notice indicating that the petitioner had defaulted in the payment of land rates to a tune of Sh 19 million and that, consequently, the property was now under the management of the respondent,” court papers filed by Rachier and Amollo advocates read in part.

The court heard that Freemasons is a philanthropic society registered in Kenya in 1990.

The trustees explained that it is registered in Kenya under the Societies Act, Chapter 108 of the Laws of Kenya, carrying out charitable activities in the country.

The society argued that it was granted an exemption from the payment of land rates through Legal Notices number 389 and 390 of 1990.

At the same time, the court heard that the county had admitted through various correspondences that the society was not supposed to pay anything.

“The said legal notices have not been overtaken by any subsequent events or revoked by any other notices, and accordingly, they remain valid and continue to govern and bind the conduct of the relationship between the petitioner and the respondent,” court papers continue to read.

 Justice Mwamuye was told that the raid was not a first. Freemasons explained that there had been other incidents in which the county backed down upon being informed of the exemption.

"It is for this reason that the petitioner was greatly shocked and dismayed by the respondent's invasion of its property on 14th May 2025, notwithstanding the continued existence and validity of the said exemption,” it claimed.

The society complained that the county had illegally, and with impunity, disrupted its quiet without an explanation of how and why it should pay the rates.

It urged the court to intervene as the county cannot keep its word.

"The respondent, by its conduct, has breached Article 47 of the Constitution, which establishes a legitimate expectation that, as a public body, it is bound to honour its own decisions. Consequently, the petitioner has continued to operate its activities on the said property with the reasonable belief and assurance that the respondent would respect the exemption granted under the exemption notice,” lamented Freemasons.

The society is seeking compensation for violation of its rights. At the same time, it wants the court to find that the county cannot demand rates which it had forfeited.

Freemasons also want the county forced to pay the cost of the case.

Justice Mwamuye directed the society and the county to appear before him on the 29th.