In a sharply worded public statement, Kenya’s Judiciary has cut through the noise surrounding former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju’s embattled Dari Limited properties, laying out the unvarnished facts and issuing a firm call for restraint from all sides.
The intervention comes at a tense moment: just days after a dramatic pre-dawn eviction operation cleared tenants and family members from the prime Karen assets, and as the long-running multi-billion-shilling dispute now shifts to the Court of Appeal.
The Judiciary’s message is blunt and unequivocal. “Here are the facts,” it declared, pointing back to its earlier March 2025 advisory. The entire saga originates from a 2015 commercial loan advanced by the East African Development Bank to Dari Limited — initially around $9.3 million (approximately KSh 943.9 million at the time) — to finance the development of high-value Karen properties, including the Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary and Tamarind Karen/Dari Business Park.
When the loan went into default, years of legal battles followed. A final judgment was delivered by England’s High Court in 2019, ordering repayment of more than $15 million. Kenyan courts recognised and enforced that judgment in 2020. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision in 2023, and the Supreme Court declined to intervene.
The latest chapter unfolded on March 9, 2026, when High Court Justice J.W.W. Mong’are delivered a decisive ruling in the case Dari Limited & Raphael Tuju vs Garam Investment Auctioneers, Knight Frank Valuers Ltd & Others. The judge struck out the plaintiffs’ amended plaint, dismissed their application for an injunction to stop the auction, and discharged all existing interim protective orders.
Her reasoning was clear: the core issues had already been conclusively determined years earlier. The principle of res judicata applied — the matter could not be re-litigated. Re-framing the same claims under a constitutional lens, the court ruled, amounted to an abuse of the judicial process.
Tuju and Dari Limited have since been granted leave to appeal the ruling. The Judiciary’s position is now crystal clear: the appellate court must be allowed to determine the matter undisturbed.
“Accordingly, in order to safeguard the integrity of the ongoing judicial process and uphold the rule of law, we urge all parties to exercise restraint and allow the appellate court to determine the matter without parallel discourse that may prejudice or undermine the due administration of justice,” the statement read.
The plea arrives amid mounting public controversy. Footage of masked officers in unmarked vehicles arriving at 3 a.m. to enforce the eviction has drawn sharp criticism, with political figures including Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o questioning police involvement in what remains a civil commercial dispute. Tuju has maintained that he is willing to repay the debt but insists the current valuation of the land far exceeds what is owed.
Yet the Judiciary is drawing a hard line: the debt is documented, the securities were lawfully created, and multiple courts — both foreign and domestic — have already ruled on the substance of the matter. Enough with the public theatre.
As the case now moves to the Court of Appeal, the message from the Judiciary is unmistakable. Let the law take its course — without the sideshows.
