NEMA Director-General Faces Contempt Charge Over Lang'ata Housing Project Approval

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has filed an application in the Environment and Land Court seeking to hold National Environment Management Authority Director-General Dr Mamo Boru Mamo in contempt of court. The case centres on the Southlands Affordable Housing project in Lang’ata, a development launched in March 2025 that is meant to provide around 15,000 housing units in 17-storey buildings together with a primary school.

On December 11, 2025, a three-judge bench suspended construction of the project pending the hearing of a petition challenging it. Five days later, on December 16, Dr Mamo issued an Environmental Impact Assessment licence authorising the work to continue.

Omtatah, supported by the Lang’ata Reject AHP Committee, argues that the licence amounts to deliberate disregard of the court’s order and interference with the administration of justice. He is asking the court to cite Dr Mamo personally for civil contempt, commit him to jail for six months, and require him to comply with the suspension before release.

The underlying petition contests the project’s location on public land previously set aside for roads, railways and environmental buffer zones. Residents say the development was approved without proper public participation and that it threatens water supply, sewer capacity, emergency access and privacy in an area already home to more than 50,000 people.

State lawyers have defended the project as a legitimate response to Kenya’s housing needs and maintained that environmental and land-use rules were observed, although petitioners insist no valid EIA licence existed before the December 16 issuance.

The contempt application remains pending before the Environment and Land Court.