Unease as theft of Nakuru public land puts projects at risk
A damaged fence at the parcel of land belonging to Agricultural Training College in Nakuru City that had been grabbed by private developers in January last year.
The land-grabbing menace in Nakuru County is threatening to derail multibillion-shilling development projects in the region.
The most affected include the Sh2 billion affordable housing project in Naivasha funded by the World Bank, which has run into headwinds after a private developer laid claim to the land.
The 2,400 houses were set to be built on 55 acres on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway next to the Naivasha prison.
The Nation has established that public institutions that have lost their land to grabbers include the Agricultural Training Centre (ATC), Ngata Primary, Moi Primary, Naka Primary, and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro).
In Naivasha, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is seeking to recover two grabbed parcels of public land valued at Sh1.3 billion belonging to Kalro.
The parcels of land are Naivasha Municipality Block 5/289 measuring 41.08 hectares valued at Sh1.2 billion and Naivasha Municipality Block 5/291 measuring 11.28 hectares valued at Sh100 million.
A statement by the anti-graft agency seen by Nation indicates that the land was irregularly and fraudulently allocated by former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja to Pineapples Edge Limited and Trojan Nominees Limited.
The anti-graft body in papers filed in court, states that investigations established that the land was set aside for government use in 1904 to rear indigenous chicken and Sahiwal cattle as well as host a research centre.
“The farm that served as the only National Quarantine Station for breeding livestock destined for export, was irregularly acquired by the two companies through illegal means,” stated the EACC.
EACC says in court papers that, as a result of the illegal allocation of land, Kalro was deprived of the research land.
In Nakuru City, the EACC is investigating the alleged grabbing of a section of land belonging to the Nakuru Agricultural Training Centre (ATC).
The college and the county government lodged a complaint with the anti-graft agency, claiming that some private developers had illegally occupied part of the institution’s 130-acre land.
Last year, a group of students, staff and the public pulled down a perimeter fence erected around a five-acre parcel within the institution.
The grabbing of land belonging to the Nakuru Alms House, a 71-year-old facility sandwiched between Manyani and Kivumbini estates that acts as a home for the elderly has put in jeopardy plans by the county government to expand it.
EACC South Rift Regional Manager Ignatius Wekesa told Nation that the agency is working together with the county government, Ministry of Lands and security agencies to recover all grabbed parcels of land.
Properties recovered
“EACC is working to ensure all grabbed land is recovered and the culprits are apprehended, charged and jailed,” he said.
The agency, Mr Wekesa revealed, has recovered assets worth Sh5 billion within the South Rift region in the past year.
The properties recovered include land, houses and other public property in Nakuru, Kericho, Bomet and Baringo counties.
In March 2019, EACC recovered grabbed land valued at more than Sh700 million belonging to various public institutions in Nakuru and Bomet counties, including 2,500 acres belonging to Kalro in Naivasha.
Also reclaimed in July 2019 was a Sh150 million parcel belonging to the Postal Corporation of Kenya behind Nakuru City’s Tower One Building, which had been turned into a private parking lot.
EACC also recovered a prime plot worth Sh8 million in Section 58 that had been reserved for a Muslim school.
