A Kenyan court has declined to stop preparatory work on Aliko Dangote’s planned oil refinery in Lamu County, ordering instead that the status quo on a disputed parcel of land be maintained until a hearing on 14 October.
Justice Jane Onyango of the Environment and Land Court at Malindi declined to certify as urgent an application by 133 residents of Chandavai, who had asked the court to stop the refinery’s groundbreaking, set for 30 September, and its further development. She directed that the respondents be served and file their responses within 14 days, and ordered that “the status quo prevailing” on LR No. 13061 in the Hindi/Manda Magogoni area be maintained until the inter partes hearing.
The orders the residents sought to stop the project were not granted. Bloomberg reported the order as pausing construction; as reported by Kenyan outlets, the status quo order does not expressly restrain any party, and lawyers have read it as leaving the parties, including the developers, able to proceed.
The suit, case E129/2026, was filed by Salim Tima Swaleh and 132 others against the Office of the President, the Cabinet Secretary for Defence, the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning, the Attorney General, the National Land Commission, the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority, the Lamu County Government, Dangote Industries and two contractors.
The residents argue that their families have farmed, grazed livestock, built homes, mosques and shrines, and buried relatives on the land for generations. They allege that agents linked to the national government and LAPSSET entered the land with bulldozers on 7 August 2024 and destroyed crops without notice, that refinery-linked soil testing began in July 2026, and that officials cleared one parcel on 10 September to host the groundbreaking. They cite the Land Act and Articles 35, 40 and 47 of the Constitution, alleging a lack of notices, valuation, public participation and prior compensation.
Residents who spoke to reporters said they support the investment and the jobs it promises, but want compensation and a resettlement plan before work proceeds. Compensation delays have a history in Lamu. Fisherfolk affected by the LAPSSET port signed a Sh1.76 billion compensation deal with the government in March 2023 and were paid in June 2024.
The refinery is designed to process 700,000 barrels of crude a day. Dangote has put the plant’s cost at about $16 billion, revised down from about $17 billion, with port and petrochemical works taking the wider project towards $20 billion. Kenyan officials and outlets have cited figures of Sh2 trillion to Sh2.2 trillion. About 70% of the cost is expected to be financed with debt. As of 26 September, no binding financing commitment from the Africa Finance Corporation had been publicly announced.
Dangote Industries, the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority and the National Land Commission had not publicly responded to the suit as of publication.
The court has not stopped the refinery. It has placed an unresolved compensation dispute on the public record at the moment a project planned to be roughly 70% debt-financed heads to its lenders, and lenders that apply international land-acquisition standards will read that record closely. The deeper question is sequencing: whether Kenya’s corridor projects can move from taking land first and compensating later to compensating before possession, without losing the speed that political timelines demand.
Whether the respondents will contest the residents’ claims of occupation; who is on the National Land Commission’s compensation list; whether an environmental licence has been issued for the refinery; and when the project’s financing will close. The groundbreaking is scheduled for 30 September. The respondents’ filings are due within 14 days of service. The inter partes hearing is set for 14 October 2026.
