'1. The application filed with the court on May 7, 2025, requests:
a) Spent.
b) This court be pleased to join Maurine Munyazi Mwangovya and David Mwangovya (the administrators of the estate of Joseph Paul Mwangovya) as defendants in this case.
c) The draft defense and counterclaim be considered properly filed upon payment of the required filing fees.
d) costs be provided.
2. The applicant relies solely on the supporting affidavit sworn on May 7, 2025, and the detailed supplementary affidavit sworn on July 10, 2025, along with all attached annexures. I did not see any opposition to the application.
3. The application raises two issues for decision: whether the applicants should be added as defendants in this case and who should bear the costs of the application.
4. The principles applicable for joinder of a party to proceedings are restated in Joseph Njau Kingori v Robert Maina Chege & 3 others [2002] KEHC 1192 (KLR) where the court held as follows:
”Order 1 rule 10(2) states “the Court may at any stage of the proceedings either upon or without the application of either party under such terms as may appear to the Court to be just order that the name of any party improperly joined whether as a plaintiff or defendant be struck out and that the name of any person who ought to have been joined whether as a plaintiff or defendant or whose presence before the Court may be necessary in order to enable the Court effectively and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all questions involved in the suit be added.
When the above principles are applied to the facts of these applications it is clear that the guiding principles when an intending party is to be joined are as follows:
1. He must be a necessary party
2. He must be a proper party.
3. In the case of a defendant there must be a relief flowing from that defendant to the plaintiff.
4. The ultimate order or decree cannot be enforced without his presence in the matter.”
5. His presence is necessary to enable the Court to effectively and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all questions involved in the suit.”
5. The applicants assert that they are joining these proceedings as administrators of the estate of the late Joseph Paul Mwangovya and seek to be included in the case challenging the title held by his widow, the defendant in this matter. Based on the factual background established so far by the pleadings, counter-pleadings, and affidavits, it is undisputed that the property was transferred to the defendant from the deceased.
6. It would be inappropriate to determine the proprietary interest held by the defendant in the property or the validity of the transfer from the deceased to her without giving the deceased’s representatives an opportunity to be heard—especially since the dispute seems to originate from the very beginning of the title, during the adjudication process in which the deceased’s estate was involved.
7. Any questions about whether the plaintiff or the deceased should be considered the rightful owner of a particular parcel of land, or whether the plaintiff, rather than Joseph Paul Mwangovya’s family, has standing to sue over the property, can only be resolved with the involvement of the deceased’s personal representatives.
8. Therefore, the order for joinder is crucial to the validity of these proceedings and should be granted. Therefore, the application dated May 7, 2025, is hereby allowed as prayed.
Dated, signed, and delivered virtually at Malindi on this 16th day of October, 2025.
E. K. MAKORI
JUDGE
Present:
Ms. Kavindo for the Applicants,
Ms. Ekiru for the 2nd and 3rd Defendants,
Happy as Court Assistant.
Absent:
Mr. Oduor for the Plaintiff
Mr. Mwakisha for the 1st Defendant.
'
a) Spent.
b) This court be pleased to join Maurine Munyazi Mwangovya and David Mwangovya (the administrators of the estate of Joseph Paul Mwangovya) as defendants in this case.
c) The draft defense and counterclaim be considered properly filed upon payment of the required filing fees.
d) costs be provided.
2. The applicant relies solely on the supporting affidavit sworn on May 7, 2025, and the detailed supplementary affidavit sworn on July 10, 2025, along with all attached annexures. I did not see any opposition to the application.
3. The application raises two issues for decision: whether the applicants should be added as defendants in this case and who should bear the costs of the application.
4. The principles applicable for joinder of a party to proceedings are restated in Joseph Njau Kingori v Robert Maina Chege & 3 others [2002] KEHC 1192 (KLR) where the court held as follows:
”Order 1 rule 10(2) states “the Court may at any stage of the proceedings either upon or without the application of either party under such terms as may appear to the Court to be just order that the name of any party improperly joined whether as a plaintiff or defendant be struck out and that the name of any person who ought to have been joined whether as a plaintiff or defendant or whose presence before the Court may be necessary in order to enable the Court effectively and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all questions involved in the suit be added.
When the above principles are applied to the facts of these applications it is clear that the guiding principles when an intending party is to be joined are as follows:
1. He must be a necessary party
2. He must be a proper party.
3. In the case of a defendant there must be a relief flowing from that defendant to the plaintiff.
4. The ultimate order or decree cannot be enforced without his presence in the matter.”
5. His presence is necessary to enable the Court to effectively and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all questions involved in the suit.”
5. The applicants assert that they are joining these proceedings as administrators of the estate of the late Joseph Paul Mwangovya and seek to be included in the case challenging the title held by his widow, the defendant in this matter. Based on the factual background established so far by the pleadings, counter-pleadings, and affidavits, it is undisputed that the property was transferred to the defendant from the deceased.
6. It would be inappropriate to determine the proprietary interest held by the defendant in the property or the validity of the transfer from the deceased to her without giving the deceased’s representatives an opportunity to be heard—especially since the dispute seems to originate from the very beginning of the title, during the adjudication process in which the deceased’s estate was involved.
7. Any questions about whether the plaintiff or the deceased should be considered the rightful owner of a particular parcel of land, or whether the plaintiff, rather than Joseph Paul Mwangovya’s family, has standing to sue over the property, can only be resolved with the involvement of the deceased’s personal representatives.
8. Therefore, the order for joinder is crucial to the validity of these proceedings and should be granted. Therefore, the application dated May 7, 2025, is hereby allowed as prayed.
Dated, signed, and delivered virtually at Malindi on this 16th day of October, 2025.
E. K. MAKORI
JUDGE
Present:
Ms. Kavindo for the Applicants,
Ms. Ekiru for the 2nd and 3rd Defendants,
Happy as Court Assistant.
Absent:
Mr. Oduor for the Plaintiff
Mr. Mwakisha for the 1st Defendant.
'