1. This Court has already found the Plaintiff guilty of contempt of Court and has directed them to appear before it for purposes of mitigation and sentencing proceedings which are at the tail end and which have taken a criminal dimension. The contemnor, Harrison Waweru Nganga, has now orally moved this court for a stay of execution of the sentencing order, pending the hearing and determination of an application for stay filed before the Court of Appeal.
2. In an attempt to gag the court, the contemnor has by rushed prematurely to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to secure orders of stay before the sentence had been pronounced.
3. The provisions of Order 42 Rule 6 (1) of the Civil Procedure Rules provides that no appeal or second appeal shall operate as a stay of execution or proceedings under a decree or order appealed from except in so far as the court appealed from may order.
4. In considering an application for a stay of execution pending appeal, this court must be satisfied that the intended appeal is arguable and, more importantly, that the substratum of the appeal would be rendered nugatory if the stay is denied. However, the court must also balance this with the history of the litigation and the conduct of the applicant.
5. The record of this court speaks volumes:
i. The contemnor has demonstrated a historical and consistent pattern of treating court orders as mere suggestions.
ii. When this court previously exercised its discretion on 4th July 2024 to grant a stay of execution to allow for an appeal or settlement, the contemnor instead chose to ‘’up-scale’’ his illegal activities, aggressively subdividing the suit land up to September 2025 in direct violation of the status quo.
iii. A party seeking the equitable relief of a stay must come to court with clean hands. The contemnor’s hands are heavily soiled by his persistent, audacious, and willful defiance of this court's authority.
6. To grant a further stay of execution to a repeat contemnor who has previously weaponized a stay order to commit further breaches would be an insult to the dignity of this court and a mockery of the administration of justice. The court cannot allow its processes to be sabotaged or delayed indefinitely under the guise of pending appellate mechanisms when the contemnor's conduct shows absolute bad faith. Accordingly, this court cannot abdicate from its responsibility to punish an offender who has been found guilty by deferring the sentence now due. I find no merit in the oral application for a stay of execution of the sentencing. The Plaintiff contemnor shall therein proceed to mitigate.
Dated and delivered via Microsoft Teams at Naivasha this 3rd day of June 2026.
M.C. OUNDO
ENVIRONMENT & LAND COURT– JUDGE