Over 2,000 residents of Lamu have moved to the Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi, seeking to be enjoined in an ongoing land dispute involving over 1,000 acres on Manda Island.

The residents, many of whom are fishermen, claim to be the legitimate owners of the contested land and accuse two companies, Goodson Nine Limited and Goodson Fifty Three Limited, of fraudulently acquiring the property.

Through their lawyer, Danstan Omari, the residents have asked the court to vacate ex parte orders issued on November 14 in favor of businessman Alex Githinji.

These orders restrain the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from investigating or prosecuting Githinji over alleged irregularities in the land acquisition.

“There are ex parte orders granted in favor of the petitioner which derogates the constitutional rights of the Applicants/intended 4th & 5th respondents and as such it is just in the circumstance for them to be joined as parties in this petition,” read the court documents

The residents say that they have been the registered owners of the parcels in question and that the orders undermine their vested interests.

They allege that failure to include them in the case would result in significant prejudice.

“It is in the interests of justice that the application for joinder be dispensed with before substantive determination of the matter,” argue the residents

For his part, Githinji says that his acquisition of the land was lawful, alleging that he conducted an official land search confirming its ownership before finalizing the purchase.

He accuses the DCI of maliciously pursuing him despite the validity of his transactions.

“The Petitioner with a view of helping the interested party to purchase purchasing of the suit property, carried out due diligence to ascertain the authenticity of the ownership of the suit property and traced it to the vendors who sold the same to him,” read court documents