By Antynet Ford
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered a public parcel of land valued at Sh100 million in Nakuru and called for grabbers to voluntarily surrender more.
EACC Deputy Director Erick Ngumbi said that the land that is now under transfer to the government was fraudulently acquired 30 years ago, with perpetrators having hived off land meant for the expansion of the County Commissioners offices.
“We have recovered a half-acre piece of public land valued at Sh100m opposite the DCI offices, which was meant for expansion of the Nakuru law courts, labour and county commissioners offices.” He said.
Ngumbi said the land had be recovered through a court litigation adding that they have recovered property worth Sh 4.2billion within Nakuru county.
“This land has been recovered through court litigation. We have also recovered properties valued at Sh4.2 billion within Nakuru. More cases are still pending before the Environment and Land Courts (ELC), with more expected to be returned on conclusion of court cases, to a tune of Sh9 billion,l.” He added.
ELC Judge Antony Ombwayo, on March 15 this year issued an injunction barring the administrators and proprietors of Phelsey Enterprises Limited and their agents from dealing with parcel number Nakuru Municipality Block 5/251 that was public land.
Ngumbi said the South-Rift EACC office has also recovered Sh3.6 million worth of property and cash money through Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism, where perpetrators voluntarily surrendered the properties.
“We encourage more Kenyans to surrender properties they suspect were fraudulently acquired, as court processes will still revert the land to government.” He noted, adding that stringent laws were in place to safeguard government property against grabbers.
Ngumbi regretted that public institutions, especially county governments, lacked prerequisite registers of assets, further predisposing the assets to grabbers.
“Basic things like fences are lacking with many counties not being aware of the assets they own. There is need for them to have an inventory in place to safeguard government properties including land.” He said.
Ngumbi put on notice fraudulent land officers who were also reallocating recovered land, noting that this jeopardised the efforts meant to support the affordable housing agenda.
South Rift Regional Manager Godfrey Oyugi invited members of the public to boost the efforts towards eradicating corruption in the country by volunteering information to assist ongoing investigations.
The half-acre piece of land adjacent to the Nakuru Central Police Station is now a business hub, with several businesses, including land surveyors’ offices, having been crafted around and inside what was then a police cafeteria.
