EACC pursues government land worth Kes5.2 billion grabbed in Nyeri, Nyahururu and Nanyuki
31:06:2024: The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is pursuing recovery of Government land and houses cumulatively worth more than Kes5 billion currently in the hands of grabbers.
The properties include official residential premises for Central Regional Commissioner and other top National Government officials in Nyeri County, Police Stations in Laikipa County, and Njambini Agricultural Training Centre in Nyandarua County.
Speaking in Nyeri yesterday during the EACC Media Workshop for Journalists practicing in the Central Region, the Commission’s Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi revealed that the Commission has moved to Court seeking orders to nullify fraudulently acquired titles to public property worth Kes1.2 billion currently in possession of grabbers. Properties worth Kes4 billion in Nyeri, Nanyuki and Nyahururu are under investigations for recovery. The Commission wants all the property returned to the Government.
In the recovery suit for Njambini Agricultural Training Centre involving 50 acres valued at over Kes.500 million, the Commission has opposed a proposal by the Ministry of Agriculture to have the recovery case withdrawn. The Ministry, through the Office of the Attorney General in Nakuru, applied to the Court to be enjoined in the case and admission filed an application to have the case withdrawn to allow the Ministry settle it with the Defendant, a company linked to a former Cabinet Secretary.
Among the persons sued in the suits filed to recover public land and Government houses grabbed in Nyeri, Nyahururu and Nanyuki are former top State Officials including a former Cabinet Secretary for Lands, former High Court Judge, former Provincial Commissioner and former Commissioner of Land.
In the recovery suits currently underway in various Courts in the central region, the Commission has sought a declaration that the allocation and issuance of titles to grabbers by land officials over the various land parcels and subsequent transfers to other parties was null and void and incapable of conferring any estate, interest or right to any person; orders directing the relevant Land Registrars to cancel all fraudulent entries in the land registers and issue new titles in the name of the Government; a permanent injunction restraining illegal owners by themselves, their agents, servants, assigns or any other person whatsoever from dealing in any manner with land except by way of surrender to the Government of Kenya; and compensation for the period the illegal owners have used the land to the detriment of the public.
Mr. Ngumbi also called on all persons holding titles to grabbed government property across the country to consider voluntarily surrendering the same to the Commission instead of waiting for the costly and lengthy court process which may nevertheless see them surrender the property and pay costs of the suit and interest to the Commission.
EACC is empowered under the law to enter into negotiations with graft suspects to facilitate their voluntary surrender of what they have stolen from the public, under the framework of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Many county governments, the Commission Spokesperson noted, are facing serious accountability challenges and that 1020 high impact investigations involving 24 counties are being investigated on priority basis.
He said that the Commission will also monitor execution of county budgets for the next financial year 2024/2025 due to increased cases where County Assemblies are colluding with officers on the County Executive side to budget for corruption largely through allocation of budget for already existing projects or projects that are not intended for execution, as a mechanism for stealing public funds.
The one-day anti-corruption workshop was held at the Nyeri National Polytechnic and targeted practicing journalists based in Nyeri and its neighbouring counties. It was facilitated by subject experts from EACC and the media.
This was the fourth cohort after similar trainings in Mombasa, Nairobi and Nakuru. EACC training engagement with the media aim at enhancing technical capacity of media practitioners for more effective reporting on corruption and governance-related issues in the counties.
