Maasai Mara luxury lodges challenge dismissed

Kenya’s 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, the court said the petitioners should have first sought redress before the National Environment Tribunal, reports Capital FM. 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 Co-ordination Act, leaving the court without jurisdiction to hear the matter. 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. 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.