Petitioners Sue Kenya Railways MD Over Use of Force in Mombasa Eviction

The Kenya Railways Managing Director Philip Mainga is in the Spotlight for allegedly using the police to evict legal property owners in Mombasa for a takeover of the land by the Corporation.

In a petition filed at the Mombasa Law Courts, Mainga has been accused of sending armed officers into the suit properties without notice, court order, or legal justification.

“They were accompanied by police officers and proceeded to deface the perimeter wall with markings and graffiti reading “XKR” and “DEMOLISH,” an affidavit sworn by the petitioners Zipporah Juma and Salim Mvurya read in part.

 KRC returned with increased force, including five police vehicles, a tractor, three Lorries, and an excavator.

”A bulldozer bearing registration number KHMA 045P and escorted by armed police officers was returned to the premises by agents of the Respondent, with the clear intention to demolish the perimeter wall and forcibly evict the legal tenant,” they added.

The standoff intensified around 4 am the next day when KRC personnel and police returned under the cover of darkness.

They forcibly broke into the premises of both Kencont and Boss Freight, cut padlocks, locked the gates with heavy metal chains, and placed scrap railway tracks at the entrances to prevent access.

Private security guards were also deployed.

According to the petitioners, the actions were taken without legal process, without regard to the lease agreements, and in utter defiance of the rule of law and Kencont Logistics Services’s property rights.

They added that the attempt to repossess the land that lacked any color of right, terming it an act of institutional violence clothed in state power.

Kencont officials, led by group legal manager Eva Odongo, physically blocked the machinery at the main gate by forming a human barricade.

This comes even as there are concerns of police using a lot of force to torture Kenyans, with a recent case of Albert Omondi Ojwang, who died while in police custody in Mombasa.

The petition comes after a few weeks ago, the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa issued temporary orders preventing Kenya Railways Corporation from forcibly taking over the premises of Kencont Logistics Services Limited’s Container Freight Station (CFS) in Mbaraki, Mombasa.

KRC claims that Kencont, a firm linked to the late former President Daniel Moi, is illegally occupying a section of its 22-acre plot of land.

Justice James Olola issued the directive, stating: “I have seen the Notice of Motion dated May 17, 2025, filed under a Certificate of Urgency. I am satisfied that the matter is urgent and warrants immediate intervention.”

“Accordingly, I hereby issue an order as sought under Prayers 1 and 2 of the Motion temporarily. The application shall be heard inter partes on July 1, 2025.”