EACC recovers prime Government properties grabbed in Kakamega
27:01:2024: The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered six prime Government properties in Kakamega Town cumulatively valued at Kes85 million.
The property had been grabbed by private individuals in the town’s Milimani Estate in collusion with corrupt land officials.
One of the properties forms the official residence of the Deputy County Commissioner of Kakamega East whose title deed was registered under a private individual making the Government official a squatter on Government land.
The Court has since nullified the titles for the six properties and ordered the Kakamega Land Registrar to issue new Title Deeds in the name of the Government, which EACC will soon be handing over to the State Department of Housing.
Speaking at the Deputy County Commissioner’s Office yesterday, Friday 26th January, EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said that Kakamega County is among the counties with high prevalence of land grabbing. Ngumbi revealed that besides the six recovered parcels, EACC is pursuing 20 more grabbed parcels of land in the prime Milimani area.
EACC, he said, has already filed recovery cases in Court for 8 parcels while 12 other parcels of land are under active investigations for recovery. The Commission is also pursuing criminal investigations against land officials involved in the fraudulent allocation of Government land.
The recovered properties include Kakamega Municipality Block III/239- KAKA/HOU/MG 48, which was recovered from Michael Omusala Wensetze and is valued at Kes7 million; Kakamega Municipality Block III/276- KAKA/HOU/HG 40 that was recovered from Fridah Asamba and is valued at Kes4.5 million; Kakamega Municipality Block III/261- KAKA/HOU/MG 02, recovered from John Katumanga, and valued at Kes7 million.
The others are Kakamega Municipality 3/262- KAKA/HOU/MG47 also recovered from John Katumanga and valued at Kes6 million; Kakamega Town /Block/3/64- KAKA/HOU/HG22, recovered from Jacqueline Musalia and valued at Kes26 million; and, Kakamega Municipality/ BLOCK III/242 recovered from Eunice N. Mugala and valued at Kes30 million.
EACC is empowered under the framework of Alternative Dispute Resolution to enter into negotiations with graft suspects to facilitate voluntary surrender of what they have stolen from the public.
The Commission, said Mr Ngumbi, calls upon all persons holding titles to grabbed government property across the country to voluntarily surrender them instead of waiting for the costly and lengthy ligation process. He appreciated the invaluable support the Commission received from the Judiciary in facilitating the recovery through progressive jurisprudence.
