A forcible takeover of Nakuru War Memorial Hospital by county government officials has been declared illegal by the Environment and Land Court, which has affirmed the hospital’s ownership of the disputed 27-acre property and ordered security officers stationed there to leave.
The ruling is a major setback for the Nakuru County government, which had sought to reclaim the prime parcel, arguing that the hospital’s 50-year lease extension had been fraudulently obtained. The decision also complicates the county’s claim to the Nakuru PGH Annex, a public health facility, and a helipad located within the disputed property.
War Memorial Hospital Director Dr Simon Mwangi addresses the media at the facility in Nakuru City on October 15, 2026, after a ruling by the Environment and Land Court in Ol Kalou, ordered the facility's immediate reopening following nearly two years of closure over a land dispute with Nakuru County Government.
The dispute dates back to the evening of October 7, 2023, when senior county officials stormed the hospital in an attempt to take over its management. In a press statement, County Secretary Dr Samuel Mwaura announced the county government’s decision to repossess the property following the cancellation of the hospital’s lease extension. The administration maintained that the 50-year extension had been fraudulently acquired and that the land had reverted to the county as custodian of public land.
The officials, among them County Executive Committee Member for Lands John Kihagi, said the property belonged to the county.
The takeover disrupted hospital operations and subjected patients to a traumatic experience as they were transferred to the public wing of the facility. A legal battle between the hospital’s private management and the county administration followed, eventually leading to the shutdown of the health facility.
The entrance to the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru City.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
In its final determination of the dispute, the court declared Nakuru War Memorial Hospital Limited the lawful and rightful proprietor of the parcel known as Nakuru Municipality Block 11/107, measuring approximately 27 acres.
“An order is hereby made declaring the Plaintiff as the legal, bona fide and rightful proprietor of all that parcel of land known as Nakuru Municipality Block 11/107 measuring approximately 27 acres,” the court ruled.
The judge also nullified the decision by the Nakuru land registrar to revoke the 50-year lease extension granted to the hospital in 2021, finding that the cancellation had been carried out unlawfully.
The determination affects the county’s claim to the Nakuru PGH Annex and the helipad situated within the disputed parcel. The court noted that the law recognises land ownership as extending to buildings and other developments attached to the soil.
“I must also emphasise that Section 2 of the Land Act, 2012, adopts the maxim quicquid plantatur solo solo cedit, which means that whatever is attached to the soil becomes part of the soil. Land includes buildings attached to the land. This is the foundation of the fixtures in Kenya,” the judge observed.
The court further ordered police officers stationed at the hospital to vacate immediately and barred the county government and its agents from entering, dealing with or interfering with the facility’s operations.
“I order all the security officers placed in the suit premises by or on instructions and orders from the Defendants to vacate the suit premises forthwith so as to allow the Plaintiff run the hospital as it wishes,” the court ruled.
The hospital filed the suit in 2023, accusing the county government of unlawfully taking over its management despite its possession of documents it said established ownership of the property.
It challenged the cancellation of the lease extension granted in 2021 after the expiry of its initial 99-year lease that year.
The county, in its response, maintained that the land had reverted to it following the expiry of the lease issued to the hospital in 1922. It argued that the subsequent 50-year extension had been fraudulently obtained and was therefore properly revoked.
Armed police officers and reinforcement officers from the County Government of Nakuru man the gate to War Memorial Hospital on January 23, 2024.
Photo credit: BONIFACE MWANGI/NMG
In his affidavit, Dr Mwaura said the hospital had initially been managed by a trust comprising nine directors, including the provincial commissioner and the Provincial Medical Officer, who were tasked with safeguarding the public interest.
He claimed that four directors, including the two government officers, were removed under unclear circumstances, leaving five directors in charge.
Dr Mwaura said the hospital management applied for renewal and extension of the lease on January 9, 2020, but the process was delayed by a dispute between War Memorial Hospital and Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital Annex, a public facility situated on the same land.
The entrance to the War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru on October 28, 2023.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
The court, however, relied on an earlier decision by Environment and Land Court judge Yuvinalis Angima, sitting in Naivasha, who issued orders of certiorari quashing a gazette notice published by the Nakuru land registrar on May 19, 2023, cancelling the 50-year lease extension granted to Nakuru War Memorial Hospital Limited.
Justice Angima ruled that the lawful procedure had not been followed before the hospital’s title was cancelled. In the present judgment, the court noted that the hospital management’s possession of a valid lease was not in dispute. The central question was whether the process through which the lease had been extended was lawful.
The judge observed that the county government had not objected to the extension before it was granted, choosing instead to challenge it long afterwards.
“Secondly, should the county have felt that the same lease ought not to have been extended for whatever reason, the best recourse would have been to move the Court for a prerogative order of certiorari to show that the same was renewed unprocedurally or through any other manner not provided for by law,” the judge stated.
The court found that Dr Mwaura and Land Registrar Eric Nyamu had acted unlawfully in cancelling the lease and attempting to take over the hospital.
It further held that the county had failed to establish its ownership of the property, questioning its assertion that it was the custodian of public land and pointing to the role of the National Land Commission in the administration of public land.
