Joho wins first round in battle for control of Mombasa port

The Court of Appeal has dismissed Kenya Ports Authority’s (KPA) bid to stop hearing of a petition in which Mombasa County led by Governor Hassan Joho is seeking to run operations the port.

Appellate Judges Mohammed Warsame, Patrick Kiage and Agnes Murgor dismissed the appeal which argued that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to hear it.

The bench affirmed the High Court decision that it has jurisdiction to hear the petition filed by Mombasa residents Mr William Ramogi, Ms Asha Omar and Mr Gerald Kiti.

According to the judges who also dismissed a cross appeal filed by the Attorney-General “matters raised in the petition are not weak to deny the petitioners a chance to be heard.”

They added that the appellants had not proved the petitioners are proxies of the county government of Mombasa.

During the hearing of the appeal, through lawyers Prof Githu Muigai, Nani Mungai and Geoffrey Imende, KPA had argued that the High Court judges created an excuse for avoiding a forum where the Constitution mandates such disputes to be heard.

“Every litigant must exhaust all primary remedies provided by law before approaching superior court (High Court),” Prof Muigai told the Court of Appeal.