The Nubian community in Kibos has secured a court victory over its settlement rights.
The decision preserves an earlier ruling recognising the community’s land rights, while residents seek title deeds and support to rebuild homes.
The Nubian community has won the Kibos land dispute against Kenya Railways after the Supreme Court upheld earlier decisions recognising its settlement rights. The ruling leaves intact an Environment and Land Court decision covering the contested land in Kisumu.
Community lawyer Joshua Odiambo Nyamori explained the outcome to residents on Monday, following the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling. Families have occupied the settlement for generations, but a 2021 demolition destroyed homes, a nursery school and a mosque.
Kibos land dispute centred on historic allocation
Nyamori said the community received its allocation in 1937, before Kenya Railways obtained the land it claimed. He traced the settlement’s origins to the colonial period, when the railway reached Kisumu.
Nubian elders met colonial administrators in 1937, leading to the allocation of the present settlement, he said. By contrast, the Environment and Land Court established that Kenya Railways received its land in 1963.
Nyamori also said the court found a clearly marked boundary between the community’s settlement and railway land. Kenya Railways challenged the ruling, but the Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal before the Supreme Court considered the matter.
Demolitions prompted residents to seek court protection
The dispute escalated in 2021 when an eviction operation destroyed homes and community facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nyamori said the demolitions took place at night, leaving elderly residents among those without shelter.
Afterwards, the community sought court protection against eviction and recognition of its rights to the settlement. Nyamori said the Environment and Land Court found that the demolition process violated residents’ constitutional rights.
Those protections included housing, property and human dignity. The court also allowed residents to pursue a separate compensation case for property destroyed during the operation.
However, that permission concerns a separate claim rather than a compensation award in this ruling.
Residents seek title deeds and rebuilding support
Although the ruling strengthens the community’s land claim, residents also want formal ownership documents to secure their tenure.
Kisumu Muslim Association chairman Sheikh Musa Ismail Haji accompanied Nyamori and urged President William Ruto’s administration to facilitate title deeds. He said ownership documents would help protect families against future disputes.
Haji wants the families to receive their titles before the 2027 General Election. Meanwhile, he said he was approaching well-wishers to support decent housing for families whose homes the demolitions destroyed.
He also appealed for urgent help to rebuild homes and restore residents’ dignity after years of hardship.
