Nairobi County Chief Officer for Environment Geoffrey Mosiria failed to appear in court today, November 4, to be sentenced for contempt of court.
The vocal county official skipped the hearing, instead sending his lawyers, who claimed that he had been taken ill upon learning that he might serve a jail sentence.
During the hearing, his lawyers challenged the contempt of court determination in which Mosiria was accused of defying a conservatory order issued on March 5, restraining the county and its committees from approving or processing any development applications in the Parklands area pending a proper physical and land use plan.
The lawyers argued that the signatures appended to the petition documents that purported to belong to Mosiria were forged and thus asked the bench to allow them to challenge the conviction.
The bench, Justice Oscar Amugo Angote, Justice Anne Abongo Omollo and Justice Charles Gitonga Mbogo, agreed to the request but declined to certify it as urgent, setting the date of the next hearing for February 2, 2026.
“We will afford your client a hearing on the application, but it will not be treated as urgent because we have other matters in between,” the court directed.
The defied court order had halted all developments in Parklands until a proper land use and physical planning framework was put in place.
The petitioners and the Parklands Residents Association had accused the Nairobi County officials of ignoring the conservatory order by allowing excavation and tree cutting to continue on Jalaram Road.
As such, the DCI has launched an investigation into the forgery claims linked to the same Parklands land case.
The Kilimani SCCIO, Hussein Mahat, wrote to the Deputy Registrar of the Environment and Land Court at Milimani on November 4, seeking certified copies of all documents filed in the petition, including the petitioners' affidavit and supporting evidence.
The DCI is investigating the forgery case contrary to Section 349 of the Penal Code reported at Kilimani Police Station.
Mosiria's lawyers, speaking after the court ruling, relayed that their client had reported the forgery at the same police station once he learnt that he had been found in contempt.
They also revealed that they had hired their own forensic investigator, who determined that the alleged signature that led to Mosiria's conviction did not belong to him.
They insisted that as a public servant, Mosiria adhered to all laws and could not have defied a court order.
