Nairobi, June 3 -- The National Land Commission (NLC) has opened a fresh court battle to block payment of more than Sh1 billion to a private developer for a parcel of land reserved for the construction of a hospital for the National Police Service (NPS) in Nairobi's Embakasi area.

In a suit filed at the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi, the NLC wants Carlisle Development Company Limited stripped of ownership of a 28-acre parcel of land which it says belongs to the public and was allocated to the police in the 1990s and therefore unavailable for private allocation.

The commission has also raised concerns that Carlisle has limited recoverable assets, warning that taxpayers could permanently lose the money if the compensation is paid ...