Mombasa wants court to halt Sh25m payout to evicted beach operators

Mombasa officials want a court to suspend the enforcement of a judgment in which the county was ordered to pay Sh25 million to evicted beach operators in 2018.

They want their petition heard urgently because they have filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

The county’s lawyer Murtaza Tajbhai argued that the operators were trying to fast-track enforcement in order to defeat the purpose of the right to appeal.

“The petitioners have nothing to lose and can commence execution proceedings in the event (the county’s) appeal does not succeed,” he said.

The beach operators - fishermen, tube renters, photographers, traders and recreational boat owners – were violently evicted from the Jomo Kenyatta public beach in 2018 by county askaris.

Justice Eric Ogola had ruled that the operators' rights were violated when the askaris destroyed their property before evicting them.

The judge noted that even though their operational licences had expired, no law allowed such violent evictions.

“I award a total of Sh25 million compensation for violent eviction of the beach operators in violation of their administrative action rights and unwarranted violence meted on them during the said eviction," Justice Ogola ruled.

The North Coast Beach Management Committee had filed the case on behalf of its 400 members, arguing that their property valued at more than Sh27 million was destroyed.