Private developer barred from State land in Nanyuki
Former Laikipia East Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) Commander Geoffrey Kamau points at a trench dug by a private developer on government land in this photo taken in April 2020.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained court orders barring a private developer from encroaching on the official residence of Laikipia County Commissioner in Nanyuki Town.
The orders were issued by Lady Justice Kossy Borr of the Environment and Land Court in Nanyuki following an application filed by the anti graft body.
The orders issued by the court will remain in force in the next six months as EACC investigates how government property was acquired by individuals.
In an affidavit sworn by Mr Simeon Lei, the commission states it aims at unearthing how 34 out of 38 acres changed ownership from government land to private property in the past few years
Danstar Holdings Limited and Duncan Mwenda Jackson are named as the first and second respondents respectively.
The court orders restrains the respondents from carrying on with any further development activities on the said piece of land pending the outcome of the investigations by EACC.
In the orders, they had sought six months to carry out investigations geared towards the recovery of three parcels of government land located in prime areas of Muthaiga Estate registered as Nanyuki Municipality Block12/129, Nanyuki Municipality Block 12/130 and Nanyuki Municipality Block 12/183.
The issue of illegal acquisition of government land was first brought to the attention of the anti-graft body in October 2019 when the official residence of Laikipia East Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) Commander Geoffrey Kamau was fenced off and he was asked to move out.
Mr Kamau wrote the EACC explaining his predicament with the EACC promising to probe the matter. The CIPU boss was a few months later transferred to Nakuru.
Central Region EACC Manger Abraham Kemboi told a media briefing early this month in Nanyuki Town that investigations had been launched to recover of the County Commissioner’s residence and other neighbourinng houses occupied by senior government officials.
Mr Kemboi said more than 50 parcels of government land valued at over Sh6 billion had been grabbed in Nanyuki Town.
EACC notes that Nanyuki Town and its environs has in the recent past witnessed an unprecedented wave of land grabbing, threatening to turn the hitherto well-planned town into a concrete jungle.
He says a cartel of land grabbers targeting public land among them the Judiciary Houses, the Deputy County Commissioner’s, residential houses of police commanders, Majengo Chief’s office which also houses over 50 officers attached to CIPU.
Other pieces of government land said to have been acquired irregularly include yards belonging to Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA), Nanyuki Prisons land, the Governor’s residence, the Nanyuki Law Courts, Nanyuki High School and Nanyuki Polytechnic.
