Kenyan Courts Dismiss Kwale Suit

A Kenyan court has ruled the government is entitled to expropriate land held by seven farmers for the Kwale titanium sands project held by Tiomin Resources (TIO-T).

The farmers, who control eight properties in the area designated for the Kwale mining lease, had sought an order preventing the government from expropriating their land at a price based on an agreed compensation package that had previously been accepted by 371 other landholders that were displaced by the project.

The seven had been given notice of expropriation by the government, which has already issued full permits for the mineral sands operation and approved the compensation scheme.

The farmers claimed the government had no legal power to expopriate the land.

Lenders for the project had advised Tiomin that they could not advance funds until all legal proceedings were finished. There are still administrative issues to be dealt with, such as official publication of the project’s fiscal agreement, signed in 2005, and minor tax and duty matters.

Tiomin, which had stopped work on the project to await the court decision, said it was “reviewing the development framework” for the project, whose schedule has been set back by the legal wrangle over expropriation.