The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has successfully recovered public land valued at KSh 12 million that had been reserved for police housing at Karatina Police Station in Nyeri County.
The 0.074-acre piece of land was surrendered to the Government following a 13-year-long legal dispute involving the Government and the defendants.
”The parcel, known as Karatina Municipality/Block II/383 and measuring 0.074 acres, was surrendered to the Government after a 13-year legal battle,” the agency stated.
According to reports, the land had been excised and transferred to private individuals despite being government property, and the allocation involved officials from the Ministry of Lands.
The first stage of the land transfer began with a government survey in 1998 that involved land already set aside for police housing.
The survey produced two development plans: one for the existing police station site and another for a proposed residential plot. This proposed residential pilot was allocated to a private individual illegally.
According to EACC, the subdivision should not have been approved, as the land was already designated as government property.
In the next stage, the initial private owner transferred the parcel to another individual, giving them legal title to the land. This transfer occurred outside the standard government procedures.
According to the Investigations, it revealed that government officials at the time played a role in facilitating these irregular transfers.
Their involvement allowed the private allocation and subsequent ownership to occur, effectively bypassing legal and administrative safeguards that protect public land.
”Investigations found that the irregular excision and allocation of the public land were facilitated by the then Provincial Physical Planner in the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, and the then Commissioner of Lands,” EACC added.
On May 14, 2013, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission intervened and filed a case to recover the land. After years of litigation, a court recorded a consent that returned the parcel to the Government, restoring it to its intended purpose for police housing and bringing the long-running dispute to a close.
