The Court of Appeal has affirmed a lower court's decision allowing Belgian company Kenwind Ltd to advance its Sh21 billion wind energy project in Lamu County, rejecting an appeal from U.S.-based Cordison International.
Judges Alnasir Visram, Wanjiru Karanja, and Daniel Musinga ruled the appeal lacked merit, stating in their judgment that "this appeal is devoid of merit" without needing to address individual arguments. They emphasized the National Land Commission (NLC) had adequately responded to Cordison's concerns.
Cordison had challenged Kenwind's land allocation, claiming the firm secured 11,000 acres illegally. The company alleged delays in its Sh23 billion phase one project in Kiongwe, Lamu, due to the NLC's failure to approve its land lease request. However, the NLC maintained Cordison never met legal requirements for the lease, despite its 2009 efforts to invest in the area.
In 2017, Cordison filed a lawsuit against the NLC and Lamu County government, alleging favoritism toward Kenwind in land allocation for wind energy development. A high court dismissed the claim, finding no evidence of illegal conduct by the agencies.
The NLC had addressed Cordison's grievances in a June 2016 letter, proposing a development plan that allocated 3,200 acres to Cordison and 8,000 to Kenwind. The commission advised Cordison to appeal to the liaison committee under the Physical Planning Act if dissatisfied with the proposal.
