Sheria Mtaani na Shadrack Wambui has filed an urgent petition at the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi this week, seeking orders to compel senior state officers to execute a cabinet resolution made last November.
The resolution in question, waived all accrued interest and penalties on outstanding land settlement loans, a relief estimated to cover a portfolio of KSh 12.3 billion. The waiver, which was announced in a Cabinet News dispatch dated 11th November 2025, was designed to benefit settlers in 520 schemes that are spread across 26 counties, enabling them to clear principal loans, obtain title deeds, and use the land for economic empowerment.
The petition names the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, and the Principal Secretary for the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning as respondents. The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning is also listed as an interested party.
The applicant, through its advocates Danstan Omari & Associates, argues that nearly three months after the cabinet decision was adopted as an executive order, there has been “little to non-implementation,” particularly by the lands ministry. This inaction has allegedly in turn left settlers continuing to incur penalties, undermining the very purpose of the relief measure.
“The Principal secretary… has either willingly or flagrantly abdicated their duty to see in the implementation of the said resolution, hence plunging the said low-income settlers into more penalties accruing from the said loan,” stated Advocate Danstan Omari in a certificate of urgency filed with the court.
The cabinet’s original decision followed recommendations from the Land Settlement Fund Board of Trustees, which noted that many settlers had been unable to repay loans due to economic hardship and challenges affecting farm productivity. The waiver was framed as a key pillar of the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, intended to “ease the financial burden on low-income settlers.”
In his supporting affidavit, Shadrack Wambui, the chairperson of the applicant organisation, emphasised the real-world impact of the delay. “Almost three months down the line, there has been little to non-implementation of the said resolutions, especially by the ministry of lands,” he stated.
