A court in Nairobi has ruled in favour of lawyer Donald Kipkorir over legal compensation fee following a court battle that has taken ten years.
Deputy Registrar of Employment Labour and Relations Court Justice Diana Oraro directed Nairobi County to pay lawyer Kipkorir Ksh.1.3 billion.
The case involves the Ministry of Defence and the then City County of Nairobi (CCN) over a parcel of land at Embakasi Barracks.
The value of the land is priced at Ksh.61.5 billion which according to the court, the Defence Ministry occupied It without any underpinned legal action.
This prompted CCN to procure Kipkorir as the defence lawyer who petitioned the Ministry in 2012 after the illegal takeover but was later withdrawn in June 2021 without the lawyer’s knowledge.
Court filings indicate Kipkorir had asked for instructions fees of Ksh.1.23 billion and Ksh.410 million for ‘getting up fees’ or costs incurred for the preparation of the case.
Compensation fee, however, was arrived at following the number of times the lawyer appeared at the dock defending the County.
Even though the Governor Anne Kanau-led County had agreed to compensate Kipkorir Ksh.400,000,000 including Value Added Tax (VAT), Justice Oraro ruled that there was no evidence to show how the agreement was reached.
“It is moreover quite unfortunate that no proof has been tendered to this court to show that there existed a retainer agreement between the parties other than an unsigned letter allegedly from the applicant firm,” ruled Justice Orago.
In September 2013, Parliament had pushed the Ministry of State for Defence to pay the defunct CCN Ksh.22.9 billion for the disputed Embakasi Barracks.
The land LR No. 11344, measuring 918.2 hectares (or 2268.872 acres), was taken over in the 1980s without compensation and payment of rates.
It was initially granted to Kayole Estates Limited by the Government on February 21, 1964. The council bought the parcel, which measured 5,639 acres, leaving aside 16 acres as road reserve according to deed plan No. 80563 of October 4, 1963 from Kayole Estates Limited.
The land had been used to develop site and service schemes for low-income earners in Dandora, Kayole and Umoja among other schemes delivered by the private sector through lease arrangement such as Saika and Komarock.
