The Nakuru County government has teamed up with the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to recover grabbed public land and assets valued at billions of shillings.
Governor Susan Kihika said her administration would be seeking to repossess all public utilities believed to have been alienated by past civic leaders and other prominent personalities.
Ms. Kihika consequently has asked those with title deeds of grabbed land to surrender them, adding that the county government had embarked on the valuation of the devolved unit’s assets.
“Those clinging on grabbed land ownership documents are wasting time because the titles will be revoked anyway after the ongoing review,” said the governor.
The governor regretted that the illegal allocation of public land had made it difficult for any meaningful development to take place and said her administration’s efforts to fight land grabbers were not motivated by witchhunting.
She appealed to residents with information on any illegally acquired public utility to volunteer the information to the county for quick action.
Speaking to Kenya News Agency, the county boss indicated that Chapter 5 of the Constitution clearly defined public land and that it was shocking that some private developers were currently holding onto such land.
She warned that her administration will not allow fraudsters to take facilities that are meant for public use, arguing that grabbers were criminals who, she said, should be prosecuted.
Ms. Kihika expressed regret that grabbers operating in the devolved unit have taken possession of public land set aside for the development of chiefs’ offices, police posts, and public cemeteries.
The Governor at the same time put on notice County staff abetting illegal allocation of public land and affirmed that she will ensure they are not only sacked but are also subjected to prosecution.
Through collaboration with EACC, public assets within the devolved unit valued at over Shs 266 million have been recovered through an asset tracing programme that took two years.
According to records from the Nakuru County government, the recovered properties included 27 public officers’ residences at the Nakuru Municipality valued at a total of Sh74.2 million, as well as another parcel of land that had been reserved for a survey camp by the Department of Survey in Nakuru County valued at Sh42 million.
EACC is also said to have recovered another piece of property on Nakuru Municipality Block belonging to the Postal Corporation, which was allocated to a former member of parliament through an irregular alienation process and is estimated to be worth Sh150 million.
Ms. Kihika said the county administration had also opened a new chapter in recovering illegally acquired property through structured negotiation.
She added that there was a need for decisive action to banish the bad culture of land-grabbing to ensure that economic activities in the county were not grounded.
The governor indicated that the county will, in the next financial year, install an information technology system that will capture all the particulars of county assets to avert future grabbing of assets.
Earlier this year, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission won the first round in a court battle in which the anti-graft body was seeking to recover 435 acres of land in Naivasha belonging to the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO).
By Esther Mwangi
