The Nubian community of Kibos in Kisumu County has won the final round of a five-year legal fight against Kenya Railways after the Supreme Court dismissed the corporation's appeal over the demolition of their homes in 2021.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, 23 October 2026, the apex court upheld findings by the Environment and Land Court and the Court of Appeal that the evictions violated the residents' constitutional rights, according to reports by the Nation and Capital FM.

Not a dispute about title

The judges framed the case not as a contest over who formally owns the land, but as a question of whether Kenya Railways breached the rights of people who had lived on it for generations. The court found that it had.

According to the Nation, the court held that the residents held rights capable of constitutional protection, and that the eviction breached constitutional, statutory and international safeguards. It also found that occupation licences granted to the community decades ago had not been extinguished by later state action.

“What we are dealing with here, is an occupation of public land by a whole community,” the court said, in a passage quoted by the Nation.

Crucially, the judges said a right to housing on public land can arise from long occupation even where residents hold no title document. The judgment opens the way for affected families to pursue compensation for demolished homes and facilities in a separate civil suit.

Roots in 1937

The Kibos settlement dates back to 1937, when the colonial administration moved about 53 Nubian families from Old Kisumu, where Kisumu International Airport now stands. Residents reportedly received temporary occupation licences the following year. Kenya Railways was granted its land in 1963.

In 2012 the Ministry of Lands prepared development plans recognising the settlement, and in 2015 the government announced an upgrading scheme meant to lead to allotment letters and a community title. But in March 2020 Kenya Railways issued a seven-day eviction notice.

The demolitions came on 5 and 6 February 2021, at about 3am, during the Covid-19 curfew. Homes, a nursery school and a mosque were pulled down. Residents said the operation went ahead despite a court order that was still in force. About 3,500 people were affected.

Railway's case rejected

Kenya Railways had argued that the land formed part of the Kibos railway station reserve, vested in it under legal notices issued in 1963 and 1986, and that licences gave the residents no ownership. It said it had published notices between 2018 and 2020 warning people off the reserve, and that long occupation could not turn public land into private property. It asked the Supreme Court to overturn both lower court judgments and allow its counterclaim for eviction.

The Environment and Land Court had ruled for the residents in August 2021, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision in March 2025.

Community wants title deeds

The community's lawyer, Joshua Nyamori, welcomed the ruling, telling Capital FM that “the land on which we stand belongs to the Nubian community living in Kibos”. Reports note, however, that the court did not formally decide the question of ownership.

Kisumu Muslim Association chairman Sheikh Musa Ismail Haji urged the government to help issue title deeds to the affected families before the 2027 General Election, and appealed for well-wishers to help rebuild homes destroyed in the demolitions.

The ruling is expected to carry weight beyond Kisumu, as it sets out the Supreme Court's position on the rights of long-settled communities living on land claimed by state agencies.

Photos: Capital FM, The Standard