Chief Justice David Maraga has been referred to a make a decision on a case that seeks to hand over the authority to manage the Mombasa port to Governor Hassan Joho.
On Tuesday, Mombasa Resident Judge Erick Ogola forwarded the case seeking to have the Mombasa County government allowed to manage and operate the port to the CJ who will, in turn, constitute a bench of judges to hear the case.
The uneven bench is expected to hear the "substantial questions of law" which Justice Ogola described as being of great public interest.
[caption caption="Head of Mombasa court Judge Erick Ogola (seated) and retired Resident Judge Anyara Emukule (right)"]
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The petition was filed by Mr William Ramogi, Asha Omar and Gerald Kiti, through their lawyer Nyambura Kihoro wanting the government to only regulate the port.
The case is weighty as it pits the national and county governments against each other in the management of key economic institutions.
In what is gearing up to be a landmark ruling, the management of the port which generated Kshs38 Billion in the past year could be transferred to the county government of Mombasa.
Other institutions that will be affected by the ruling are state-owned companies like East African Portland Company and Kenya Meat Commission that are situated in Kajiado and Machakos counties respectively.
In a separate court case, Governor Joho gave a directive stopping the eviction of squatters from a parcel of land owned by port workers.
His instruction disregarded a court order issued last week by the Mombasa High Court ruling that the land belongs to Bandari Sacco hence the squatters ought to leave.
Speaking to the media, County Secretary Francis Thoya stated that Joho had directed that over 4,000 squatters stay put and ignore the eviction notices.
[caption caption="The port of Mombasa"]
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