EACC Reclaims Ksh300 Million Worth of Public Land in Kisumu

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Tuesday announced that it had recovered three parcels of grabbed public land valued at Ksh300 million.

The commission recovered the stolen land that included a seven-acre piece of land belonging to Victoria Primary School, a road reserve leading to the Kisumu County headquarters, and land belonging to Kenya Railways.

At the heart of the operation to reclaim the land was EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumbi who urged individuals and companies guilty of land grabbing to let the law dictate the proceedings around land grabbing cases in Kenya.

“Kenyans, and particularly grabbers of public land, may wish to know that the law allows the commission to engage in negotiations and alternative dispute resolution with those who have stolen from the public,” Ngumbi stated.

“This is all in a view to assist them to voluntarily return that which they have stolen without the necessity of waiting for lengthy and costly litigation which will in the end still see them lose that land to the government,” the EACC spokesperson added.   

The move by the EACC came after the commission had pledged to reclaim grabbed land in Kisumu County declaring a total war on individuals who grabbed public land and government houses. 

Kisumu has been faced with widespread cases of land grabbing. For instance, top officials at the then Kisumu’s City Hall placed a newspaper advert in 2010 and 2011 that saw one of the most blatant and irregular alienation and subdivisions of public land in prime locations such as in Kanyakwar, Mamboleo estate and in Kibos area.

Some of the houses and land allocated were meant for health facilities, markets, and slaughterhouses with individuals charged with the management of public resources in the lakeside city.

The allocations of these parcels of land that are now the subject of the land recovery operation saw unsuspecting Kenyans issued allotment letters to parcels that belonged to the government.

To combat the crisis in Kisumu and by extension, the country, the National Land Commission (NLC) sought to bring reforms. The NLC proposed the introduction of a certificate of reservation in addition to the already existing certificate of lease and certificate of title already provided by law. 

The certificate of reservation would be unique to public land and will ensure that public land is reserved for a specific purpose perpetually. This is because the use of public land is perpetual, hence necessitating the need to introduce the added documentation.

EACC’s sojourn in Kisumu did not end there as the anti-graft watchdog has pending lawsuits in court seeking recovery of public assets in Kisumu worth Ksh ten billion shillings. 

The assets include a prime piece of land belonging to the Kenya Prisons that was earmarked for the construction of prison staff quarters.