Two senior Nairobi County officials are set to appear in court for sentencing after being found guilty of contempt over construction works on a disputed property next to Parkview Apartments in South C.
The Environment and Land Court found the County Secretary and the County Executive Committee Member in charge of Built Environment and Urban Planning guilty of disobeying orders meant to stop further development on the land.
Justice Oscar Angote ruled that the two officials knew about court orders issued on February 24 and March 10, 2026, but failed to ensure that construction stopped.
The court relied on photographs and video recordings taken between February 25 and April 8, which showed that work was still going on despite the orders.
The judge said the petitioner had provided enough evidence to prove the contempt allegations. The officials currently holding the two offices have now been directed to appear before the court for mitigation and sentencing on a date to be set.
In the meantime, the court has barred the private company carrying out the project, together with its agents, employees and contractors, from continuing with construction until the main petition is determined.
Nairobi County Government has also been ordered to take immediate steps to stop any further development on the property.
The dispute started in November 2024 when the county issued the company with a Temporary Occupation Licence to operate a football pitch on the land.
However, a resident later accused the company of going beyond the licence by putting up commercial shops and a basketball court.
The resident also claimed that the company had covered public sewer infrastructure with a concrete slab and carried out development without the necessary environmental and planning approvals.
The court said the allegations raised a genuine dispute that would need to be addressed in the main petition.
The ruling comes at a time when building safety has come under renewed scrutiny following recent cases of building collapses in the country.
On Friday, six people died after an eight-storey building under construction collapsed along Mombasa Road. Three bodies were recovered during the initial rescue operation, with three more later retrieved from the debris.
A similar incident had also been reported in Eastleigh, Nairobi, in recent weeks.
The Engineers Board of Kenya has previously identified failure to engage qualified engineers and inadequate professional supervision among factors linked to building collapses.
