Arati survives after court lifts contempt case against him
Kisii governor Simba Arati and his county acting Secretary Robert Ombasa yesterday escaped civil jail after a Nyamira high court lifted a contempt case which had been levelled against them.
The two had been summoned to appear before Justice Mugo Kamau of the Environment and Lands court to show cause why action cannot be taken against them for disobeying a court decree.
On February 15, 2024, the Land and Environment court sitting in Nyamira had ruled that three quarters of Keroka town falls under Nyamira county as per records and evidence adduced before it from the Kenya survey of Kenya, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the National Land Commission, a ruling which did not augur well with the political leadership of Kisii county.
Justice Kamau who presided over the case ordered the two counties to respect the existing boundaries as defined by a team of experts from the three bodies which visited the ground and confirmed the true boundary.
The judge also ordered that the two county governments respect the boundaries as per the court ruling and collect revenue from their respective territories which the Kisii county violated by trespassing to the Nyamira side.
The violation prompted the petitioner of the boundary dispute case, Rigoma MCA Nyambega Gisesa, to move to court seeking committal orders against Arati and Ombasa for disobeying the decree
Gisesa, through advocate Justus Maeche, sought orders to be issued against Arati and Ombasa for committal to prison for a such period as the honourable court deemed it fit.
Gisesa accused the two of disobeying the court decree compelling Arati and Ombasa, who were the fourth and fifth respondents in the petition, to confine themselves within their territories in respect to the collection of rents, rates, licences and other statutory revenues.
