The anti-graft watchdog has moved to court seeking to recover public land near North Highridge Primary School in Nairobi from Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif, alleging it was unlawfully converted into private property.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) says the land, identified as L.R. No. 209/12673 (now L.R. No. 209/21526), was reserved for the construction of a social hall and was therefore not available for private allocation.
The EACC wants the court to order Mr Khalif and his agents to vacate the land and demolish all developments on it within 30 days, at their own cost. Should they fail to comply, the commission wants the public body taking over the land empowered to retain or remove the developments at the governor's expense.
"At all times material to this suit, the suit property was and still remains public land belonging to the Government of Kenya, and investigations did not disclose any evidence that proves otherwise," the EACC said.
Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The anti-graft agency further wants the court to declare invalid the July 7, 1995 letter of allotment issued to Hellen Njeri, arguing it was unlawful, null and void, and incapable of conferring any proprietary interest.
It also seeks to nullify Grant I.R. 67050, issued on September 18, 1995, together with all subsequent transfers of the property — from Ms Njeri to Shaheensha Investments Limited, then to former Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore, and finally to Mr Khalif.
In addition, the Commission wants the Chief Land Registrar to cancel the grant and certificate of lease and expunge all related entries from the land register.
According to court documents, the disputed parcel forms part of public land reserved for a social hall adjacent to North Highridge Primary School, which was established in 1969.
The EACC says Nairobi City Council was allocated L.R. No. 209/8262 in 1969 for construction of the school. In 1987, an adjoining parcel, L.R. No. 209/13279, was allocated as an extension of the school under an approved Part Development Plan (PDP), which also reserved the neighbouring land for a social hall.
However, the Commission says a letter of allotment was issued to Hellen Njeri in July 1995 for residential development, based on an unapproved and unauthenticated PDP, rendering the allocation invalid.
The commission further says the allotment was purportedly accepted by a Jane Njeri, rather than Hellen Njeri, before former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja issued Grant I.R. 67050 on September 18, 1995.
The property was later transferred to Shaheensha Investments Limited in 1997, to Mr Maore in 2004, and eventually to Mr Khalif in February 2021.
The EACC also alleges that a 2015 resurvey excised approximately 0.05 hectares from North Highridge Primary School and added it to the disputed parcel, increasing its size to about 0.215 hectares.
"The defendants knew, or ought to have known, that L.R. No. 209/12673 (currently L.R. No. 209/21526) was not available for alienation in the first instance without a valid, approved, and registered Part Development Plan," the EACC says in court documents.
The Commission argues that all the defendants knew, or ought to have known, that the land had been reserved for a public purpose and was therefore unavailable for allocation without a valid PDP.
It accuses Mr Gachanja of unlawfully facilitating the alienation of public land, in breach of the Government Lands Act and the Registration of Titles Act, by allocating land reserved for public use.
Construction of residential flats
Earlier this year, the court issued preservation orders halting construction of residential flats linked to Mr Khalif on the disputed property. The orders will remain in force for six months.
The EACC says investigations established that the parcels, measuring between 0.157 and 0.2157 hectares, were unlawfully alienated from public land and subsequently registered in private ownership.
