Vigilance House in Nairobi, the National Police Service headquarters.
Until three weeks ago, Vigilance House, the country's police headquarters, had no title deed, leaving the land it sits on open to grabbing by private developers.
Located in the central business district of the capital, Vigilance House co-ordinates critical police activities and it's inconceivable how the police have operated on it for the past 60 years without the vital document.
The revelation by Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat before the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security lifted the lid on the many police stations across the country currently operating without title deeds.
Mr Lagat told the committee, chaired by Narok North MP Gabriel Tongoyo, that he had received the title deed for Vigilance House three weeks ago.
"Can you imagine Mr Chairman, even the title deed for Vigilance I received only three weeks ago since independence," Mr Lagat told the committee.
Mr Lagat, along with other senior police officers, appeared before the committee on the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS).
Mr Tongoyo urged the National Police Service (NPS) to work closely with the committee to address the challenges of acquiring title deeds not only for police stations but also for other police land.
The lawmakers expressed concern that failure to secure title deeds for police land could expose it to grabbing by private developers.
Mr Lagat told the lawmakers that there was already a committee within the service that was working with the legal department to resolve the issue of title deeds.
"There is already a committee that is fast-tracking the title deeds," Mr Lagat said.
The deputy chairperson of the committee, Dido Raso, said a lot of police land was not titled and therefore not being used.
Mr Raso said the land owned by the NPS could be used to build houses for police officers to address the shortage that has long plagued the service.
National Police Service Principal Administrative Secretary Bernice Lemedeket told the committee that the challenge with police stations without title deeds is the partnership with other stakeholders that leads to their establishment.
"We have to do due diligence before we build a police station. Some of them are built in partnership with Members of Parliament through the CDF and in that case the land does not belong to the police," Ms Lemedeket said.
Ms Lemedeket further told the committee that some police stations are also built on private land, road reserves and land with unresolved title deeds, leaving the service without the vital document.
"Give us money to secure police land," Ms Lemedeket told the committee.
In her report for the 2021/22 financial year, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu found that more than 80 per cent of police stations did not have title deeds.
Ms Gathungu said only 464 police stations had title deeds out of almost 3,000 stations spread across the country.
She also noted that 80 per cent of all land owned by the Kenya Police Service has no title deeds, leaving it vulnerable to encroachment.
Some of the police stations she mentioned in her report that are in dispute with individuals and groups over ownership of their land in Kiambu County include Gatundu North police station in Kamwangi town and Makongeni police station in Thika sub-county.
A task force led by former Chief Justice David Maraga to spearhead police reforms has also found that only 159 police stations have title deeds, while a further 468 stations only have letters of allotment.
However, letters of allotment don't constitute title deeds, according to a Supreme Court ruling in September 2023.
smundu@ke.nationmedia.com
