NAROK, Kenya, Jul 3 — The Environment and Land Court has, for the second time this year, thrown out a legal challenge against the multi-billion-shilling JW Marriott Maasai Mara Safari Camp, ruling that opponents of the luxury development bypassed the law by moving directly to court instead of first seeking redress before the National Environment Tribunal (NET).

📻 Breaking It Down

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, Justice Lucy Gacheru struck out a petition filed by the East Africa Tour Guides Drivers Association challenging the construction and operation of the luxury safari camp along the Sand River in the Maasai Mara.

The judge held that the association had prematurely invoked the court’s jurisdiction by failing to exhaust the dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA), leaving the court without jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Justice Gacheru further observed that the interim orders sought by the association could not, in any event, have been granted because the project had already been completed, was operational and had received approvals from the relevant environmental, planning and wildlife authorities.

📌 What You Need to Know

“The Court must also consider where the public interest lies. On the material presently before the Court, the project has been completed and is operational,” Justice Gacheru noted.

“It is also apparent that substantial financial investment has already been undertaken and that the statutory agencies charged with environmental regulation, physical planning and wildlife conservation exercised their respective mandates before issuing the impugned approvals. Public interest therefore militates against the suspension of an operational development through interlocutory orders before the legality of those approvals has been conclusively determined,” the judge ruled.

The association had sought orders barring Lazizi Mara Limited, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC and Marriott International Inc, together with their employees and agents, from advertising, marketing, receiving bookings for or operating commercial tourism activities at the camp pending determination of the petition.

It also sought orders restraining the respondents from interfering with, intimidating or harassing the association, its members or anyone accessing the Sand River wildlife corridor.

In addition, the association wanted the court to compel the relevant government agencies to suspend or revoke all licences, permits and approvals issued to the project and require immediate measures to prevent further environmental degradation and alleged blockage of the Sand River wildlife corridor.

The petition alleged that the luxury safari camp was unlawfully constructed and operational within a critical wildlife corridor in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, obstructing wildlife migration, violating the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan and causing environmental degradation.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya