Land dispute could derail Sh15bn Kemri project in Kirinyaga
The construction of a Sh15 billion Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) centre in Kirinyaga has taken a new twist after Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs Principal Secretary Joseph Motari said the 100-acre land meant for the facility was irregularly acquired.
The land was transferred towards the Kemri project four years ago but has since been flagged as an irregularity by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in a report before Parliament on the accounts of the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs for the 2022/23 financial year.
PS Motari, while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly last week, was adamant that the land belongs to his State department, which he said was not involved in the allocation of the land to Kemri.
“No document indicates that the land was handed to Kemri by this State Department. In any case, records indicate that the County Government of Kirinyaga took it upon itself the prerogative to hand over part of the land to Kemri,” PS Motari told PAC.
In April 2020, then Lands PS Dr Nicholas Muraguri confirmed that the government had cancelled the title deed held by Kirinyaga County government on the land and issues a fresh one to Kemri.
The former PS also revealed that the Ministry of Lands had engaged the National Land Commission (NLC) to expedite the processing of a new title.
Rarieda MP Dr Otiende Amollo, who was chairing the PAC session at the time, directed the PS to provide an elaborate response after committee members poked questions into his responses, forcing him to plead for more time.
“Within three days give as a proper response on this matter,” Dr Amollo directed after the PS sought for more time.
The disputed land is meant for the construction of a modern level five hospital, a research centre and a herbal medicine manufacturing plant.
Job opportunities
Previously Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru had demanded an assurance that the locals be guaranteed job opportunities at the facility once completed before blessing the project, a position that saw her collide with the then Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.
The audit notes that Wamumu rehabilitation school, which is under the state department occupied 74.6 hectares of land out of which 40.5 hectares, which is 100 acres, was allocated to Kemri.
The other 26 hectares are “in the process of being allocated to a group calling themselves Watu was Mihiriga Kenda that means people from the nine clans.”
However, the auditor notes that no approval documents were provided for the allocation, meaning that the land still belongs to the State Department.
“The documents provided revealed that no correspondence between the rehabilitation centre, the Directorate of Children Services and the county coordinator for Kirinyaga National Land Commission involved the PS, an indication of the irregular transfer of the parcel of land,” the audit notes.
Wamumu rehabilitation school was established in 1950 and gazetted as a children’s institution providing rehabilitation programmes for children in conflict with the law.
The land that the institution sits on was reserved by the colonial government and maintained by the subsequent governments as set aside for children rehabilitation services.
According to the PS, there were efforts to have the land allocated to Kemri but the directorate objected to the hiving off of the land “as seen in the letter from the Director to the Cabinet Minister then expressing objection.”
“The management of Wamumu was not involved in the transactions that led to the transfer of the 100 acres of the Wamumu land to Kemri management,” the PS notes adding; “the management of Wamumu rehabilitation school has made efforts to secure title deeds for its two remaining parcels.”