A Kenyan has moved to court seeking to suspend the application of the doctrine of adverse possession, with a petitioner arguing that the law allowing people to acquire ownership of another person’s land after occupying it for a prescribed period is unconstitutional.
In an urgent constitutional petition, Abdulrasul Swaleh Mohsin is seeking conservatory orders stopping all adverse possession cases pending before the Environment and Land Court until the constitutional challenge is heard and determined.
He also wants the court to bar the Ministry of Lands and the Land Registry from registering any transfers of land arising from adverse possession claims while the petition is pending.
Mohsin is further asking the court to suspend the operation of Sections 7 and 17 of the Limitation of Actions Act, arguing that the provisions violate the constitutional right to property guaranteed under Article 40 of the Constitution.
According to the petition, the 2010 Constitution does not expressly preserve the doctrine of adverse possession, and its continued application unlawfully deprives registered landowners of their property. He argues that unless the court intervenes, property owners will continue to lose land through adverse possession, with some transfers potentially becoming impossible to reverse even if the petition ultimately succeeds. The petitioner says the conservatory orders are necessary to preserve the status quo and prevent irreversible loss of property while the constitutional issues raised in the case are determined.
Justice Jairus Ngaah certified the application as urgent and directed the petitioner to serve all respondents and interested parties. The respondents have been given seven days from the date of service to file their responses.
The matter will be mentioned on July 22, 2026, for further directions.
