This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
Published on May 5, 2020, a day that marked the end of an 11-year battle for US energy firm Cordisons International. The Supreme Court threw out the firm's appeal to compel the National Land Commission (NLC) to issue a leasehold to 11,000 acres of land in Kiongwe, Lamu County to build a wind farm.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision made by the Court of Appeal in 2017 that found Cordisons International Kenya, the firm's Kenyan subsidiary, erred in seeking leasehold approvals from Lamu County instead of the NLC. The court stated, "It is obvious to us that the appellant (Cordisons International) had not taken cognizance of the new land policy that had been ushered by the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Land Act and as a result backed the wrong horse."
Cordisons had been granted leasehold to the 11,000-acre parcel in 2009 to set up a wind-power farm by the Lamu County government. However, in 2016, the NLC awarded Kenwind Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Belgian energy company Electrawinds, with leasehold to set up a 90MW wind farm on 3,206 acres of the disputed parcel.
Kenwind Holdings is now set to proceed with its 90MW Baharini Wind Power project after the Supreme Court judgment. In February this year, Kenya Power signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with Baharini Wind Power after a month-long delay that saw the Belgian investors threaten to pull out.
