A systematic analysis of legal disputes on road development in Kenya

Abstract Expansion and improvement of road infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa are considered an essential component of economic and social development. However, infrastructural projects often lead to unintended consequences like conflicts and even lawsuits among stakeholders involving economic, social, environmental and land aspects. In this paper, we systematically examine the circumstances and characteristics of lawsuits related to road development in Kenya. Using the Systematic Quantitative Content Analysis, we analyse 125 court cases to determine the parties involved in lawsuits, the geographic distribution of the projects causing conflicts, reasons for filing lawsuits, and the basis for defence and judgement decisions. The results indicate that 59% of the cases involved private individuals seeking redress for violation of their rights. The claimed rights are predominantly on compulsory land acquisitions and the associated rights such as access to information, participation, and compensation. Government institutions were the main defendants and were sued in all but one case, either alone (57%) or together with a private company and private individuals (42%). We found that the judgement decision outcomes were evenly balanced between the plaintiffs and defendants. Several lawsuits filed in court are closely linked to mega-infrastructure projects in the southern part of Kenya. We show that roads cause many conflicts around land and property rights, but environmental concerns, despite the substantial impact of roads on ecosystems, are rarely considered as an argument.