A High Court ruling issued on 21 November 2025 has halted the administration of Kenya’s Land Law Examination, intensifying a long-running dispute over licensing, professional regulation and access to land surveying services in the country.
Justice of the Milimani High Court suspended the exam scheduled for 4 December 2025 in the case of Fredrick Gituma John versus the Land Surveyors Board, the Technical University of Kenya and two others. The injunction restrains the Board from administering the examination until the matter is heard and determined.
The dispute stems from the Land Surveyors Board’s decision to exclude graduates holding the Bachelor of Technology in Land Surveying degree from the Technical University of Kenya from participating in the licensing process. The petitioner argued that the Board’s actions were discriminatory and lacked legal basis. The court found that the exclusion raised serious questions concerning fairness, procedure and legality, warranting a halt to the examination.
Industry stakeholders say the ruling has brought long-simmering concerns about licensing practices into the public domain. Kenya has only 160 licensed land surveyors, a number considered disproportionately low for a country of more than 50 million people and one grappling with rising land disputes.
Land sector practitioners say the restricted licensing pipeline has contributed to challenges including delayed land transactions, land grabbing schemes and a backlog of disputes before the Environment and Land Courts. They argue that the bottlenecks have allowed a small group of professionals to dominate access to specialised surveying services, limiting competition and placing citizens at a disadvantage.
Mike Muthumba, a land surveyor and advocate representing the applicant in the suit, said the injunction represents a significant step toward correcting systemic injustices within the sector. He argued that the matter is not only professional but constitutional, since licensing restrictions deny Kenyans their right to access essential land administration services.
The examination dispute comes at a time when the sector is awaiting another critical judgment. A constitutional petition filed in 2023, HCCHRPET/E440/2023 (Mike vs State Law and Institution of Surveyors of Kenya), challenges the legality of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and its role in licensing surveyors. The judgement in that case is expected on 11 December 2025 and is anticipated to carry wide implications for professional governance.
The petitioner argues that the current licensing framework gives disproportionate authority to a non-statutory body, undermining constitutional principles and restricting the number of professionals allowed to practice. Reform advocates say that resolving both cases is necessary to promote fairness, expand professional inclusion and safeguard land rights.
The injunction is expected to slow the Board’s annual licensing cycle, but petitioners insist that the pause is necessary to address what they describe as long-standing governance issues. Analysts say the ruling could trigger broader conversations on the future of the profession, the structure of regulatory bodies and the threshold for recognising academic qualifications.
For now, the sector is braced for a potentially transformative December, with the two legal processes poised to determine whether Kenya’s land surveying profession will undergo incremental or far-reaching reforms.
