Court orders Nairobi to deposit Sh1.3b in Kipkorir case

Nairobi County has until August 18, 2025, to deposit Sh1.3 billion into a joint interest-earning account with lawyer Donald Kipkorir, or face enforcement of a previous court order mandating the payment.

Justice John Chigiti ruled that failure to comply would reactivate the orders issued on April 3, which compelled the county to pay Kipkorir’s law firm, KTKJ Advocates, legal fees awarded in a land dispute case.

“Having found as I have above, in the spirit of promoting the interests of justice, the court is of the view that the applicant should be given a chance to ventilate its case. To balance the interests of the applicant and the respondent, the court has deemed it fit to issue a conditional order noting that the Applicant is at the same time willing to settle this matter,” said Justice Chigiti.

The Sakaja-led administration sought to review or set aside the April ruling, acknowledging that the matter concerned legal fees owed to Kipkorir’s firm for representing the county in a suit against the Attorney General and Ministry of Defence.

Its representative, Catherine Ireri said she knew that the firm moved to court and was awarded Sh 1.3 billion as legal costs.

The court heard that Kipkorir’s law firm won the case before the taxing master (Deputy Registrar of the High Court), in addition to 14 percent per annum from May 10, 2022, until payment in full.

Ireri argued that Justice Ann Omollo had previously granted an opportunity to challenge the award, but later failed to address the county’s application to set aside the judgment, focusing instead on an application that neither the county nor the law firm had submitted.

She further argued that the ruling by the Lands Court Judge had caused the county’s current woes, stating that the Judge had erred.

She further claimed that the matter is already subject to a pending appeal and accused the law firm of demanding payment before a final ruling is made. According to her, there had been attempts to settle the matter through negotiations, and the law firm allegedly gave verbal assurances not to proceed with enforcement.

In response, Kipkorir’s firm dismissed the application as defective. The law firm told the court that when it filed its case to compel the county to pay the amount, the county’s lawyer, who appeared 12 times in court, intimated that he had no instructions in the case.

The court heard that although Ireri Ireri claimed instructions were issued on February 6 this year, the lawyer had been appearing since November 29, 2023.

Kipkorir’s law firm noted they wrote to the county three times between October 28 and November 11, 2024, seeking an amicable settlement, but received no response.

According to Kipkorir, the county never made any effort to settle the issue out of court for the 28 times the case came up in court.

He termed the county’s arguments a fishing expedition, which were not founded on law or facts.