In a dramatic legal escalation, Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has filed an urgent High Court application seeking to have the Director-General of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Dr. Mamo Boru Mamo, cited and punished for contempt of court. The move follows allegations that NEMA blatantly defied conservatory orders issued in December 2025 regarding the contentious Southlands Affordable Housing Project.
According to a Notice of Motion filed by the Senator, Dr. Mamo should be summoned to appear in person and “show cause why he should not be committed to civil jail for six months” for allegedly disobeying orders issued on December 11, 2025. The conservatory orders were issued by a three-judge bench comprising Justices O.A. Angote, Christine A. Ochieng, and Charles G. Mbogo, halting the project’s construction pending a ruling scheduled for February 5, 2026.
Alleged Defiance Five Days After Court Order
Central to the contempt allegation is NEMA’s decision to issue Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Licence No. NEMA/EIA/PSL/0001425 on December 16, 2025—just five days after the court’s order. Senator Omtatah argues that this action “fundamentally undermined the purpose of the conservatory orders by altering the legal and factual status quo that the court sought to preserve.”
“The licence supplied the final statutory approval necessary to facilitate the continuation of the halted project,” Omtatah contends in his filing, warning that NEMA’s move risks rendering the entire petition “nugatory.”
Sweeping Requests to the Court
In his multifaceted application, the Senator is seeking several consequential orders from the High Court:
1. Arrest of the Scheduled Ruling: Omtatah wants the court to halt the February 5, 2026 ruling on the main petition until his contempt application is fully heard and determined.
2. Nullification of the EIA Licence: He requests the court to declare the contested EIA licence “unlawful, void, and issued in blatant defiance of court orders” and to set it aside entirely.
3. Denial of Audience for NEMA: A particularly stringent request seeks to bar NEMA from being heard in court until the alleged contempt is “purged.” Omtatah argues that allowing the authority to participate would “amount to condoning disobedience of judicial orders.”
“Full Knowledge” of Orders
The Senator maintains that NEMA and its Director-General cannot plead ignorance, having actively participated in the original proceedings and been duly served with the court’s directives. He asserts that the conservatory orders “remain in force, having neither been varied nor set aside.”
Omtatah has framed the application as a matter of extreme urgency, cautioning that judicial inaction would have grave consequences. “Unless the court intervenes immediately, its authority will be undermined, the rule of law eroded, and public confidence in the judiciary gravely damaged,” his filing warns.
The case highlights ongoing tensions between state agencies and judicial oversight in Kenya, setting the stage for a high-stakes legal confrontation that will test the enforceability of court orders against powerful government bodies. The High Court is expected to rule on the urgency of the contempt application imminently.
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