Court orders Nairobi County to divert storm water from judge's property
Nairobi
By
Kamau Muthoni
| Nov 06, 2025
The Environment Court in Nairobi has ordered Nairobi County to redirect storm water away from a property owned by former Court of Appeal Judge Alnashir Visram.
Justice Oscar Angote in his ruling directed the county to ensure that the retired Judge’s property is cleaned up, there is proper sanitation and offer temporary shelter if displacement occurs.
The Judge directed that the cost to be incurred in undoing the mess should be incurred by the Johnson Sakaja led government.
He ordered that a report should be filed before him within 45 days, detailing the current water discharge and the impact of the unlawful discharge of storm water into the Judge’s plot and the adjacent ones.
“An interim mandatory injunction be and is hereby issued compelling the Respondents after the technical inspection, to implement immediate containment measures, including, if feasible, the temporary sealing or controlled diversion of the open drainage outlet, so as to prevent direct discharge into private plots pending final remedial works,” ruled Justice Angote.
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The former senior judge, together with Azmina Visram, Shaila Bhanji and Imtiaz Bhanji sued the county alongside Sakaja, Nairobi’s acting County Secretary Patrick Mbogo, and Ibrahim Auma Nyangoya.
They also named Runda Association as an interested party.
The retired Judge told the court that he jointly owns the plot with Azmina, Shaila and Imtiaz. He narrated that it has two portions; one an empty plot, while the other part is a residential house, which he lives in with his family.
According to him, the storm water ends up draining into his property owing to an erroneous design and construction of the drainage system along the southern side of the Ruaka Road, between the Ruaka Drive Intersection and Mae Properties Drive Intersection.
He further stated that the drainage system correctly slopes westwards towards Githogoro Road but the last section is improperly aligned, which obstructs the natural water flow.
The judge lamented that the storm water had been diverted into five plots and was an eyesore to anyone living around, as it is polluted, besides causing erosion and destruction.
Visram said that two perimeter walls had collapsed and the waters had caused damages to his house.
He claimed that he had incurred cost in construction of new boundary walls, reinforcement through ground and top-beam work, drainage reconstruction, landscaping, cleaning and the erection of a counter-fort retaining wall.
He argued that his property had been turned into a water meadow adding that his family was fearful that the rains would cause havoc.
According to him, numerous complaints to the county fell on deaf ears as the county had declined to seal the open drainage or divert the flow.
The county and the governor opposed the case through Allan Nyaga. The Acting Deputy Director of Engineering and Works claimed that after the complaint, he sent a technical team to the site to assess the situation.
Nyaga, however admitted that the storm-water gradient was improperly aligned.
According to him, the problem requires a lot of resources and work. He proposed that property owners along the natural drainage path install culverts within their properties to mitigate against flooding.