The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has moved to recover 7.6 acres of grabbed Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) land in Kisumu, valued at Ksh 790 million.
In a statement, the Commission said it has filed civil proceedings to recover the public land located in Milimani, Kisumu City, which it says was unlawfully excised from KPS property and converted into private ownership.
According to EACC, the disputed land forms part of an original 16-acre parcel reserved for the Kenya Prisons Service for staff housing and regional offices. The land is currently valued at about Ksh790 million, excluding developments, and an estimated Ksh4.3 billion, including developments.
The recovery action follows a petition filed by the Kenya Prisons Service in February 2022, requesting investigations into the alleged unlawful occupation, subdivision and alienation of its land in Kisumu.
Investigations by the Commission established that in 1989, the late former Assistant Minister for Home Affairs and National Heritage, Grace Emily Akinyi Ogot, allegedly colluded with the then Commissioner of Lands, Wilson Gacanja, and other land officials to fraudulently acquire the prisons land and convert it to private ownership.
EACC said the land had originally been reserved for prison use by the colonial government through a Legal Gazette Notice in 1961. In 1965, the Commissioner of Lands initiated formal documentation for the property, and Plan No. DRG 9/65/7, prepared on July 9, 1965, designated it for prison facilities and staff housing.
“The Kenya Prisons Service occupied the land and had staff houses erected on it. During the illegal acquisition, some of the prison houses were demolished to pave the way for private settlement,” the Commission said.
Investigators further established that the alleged fraud was executed through forged documents, including a fake letter of allotment, a forged Part Development Plan (PDP), and other false representations.
According to EACC Chief Executive Officer Abdi Mohamud, the then Assistant Minister had initially requested land for the proposed Grace Ogot Secondary School but later changed the request and sought allocation of part of the prisons land for private residential development.
“Being the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs and National Heritage, under whose docket the Kenya Prisons Service fell, she is alleged to have used her office to facilitate the unlawful allocation of the land to herself,” Mohamud said.
The Commission further alleges that the land was subsequently subdivided into 92 plots and sold to unsuspecting buyers who have since developed the properties.
“The parcels are now largely developed, and the occupied section has been renamed Winam Estate, also known as Grace Ogot Estate,” EACC said.
Consequently, the Commission has moved to court seeking the cancellation of all resultant land titles, declarations that the entire chain of transactions was illegal, fraudulent, null and void, and restoration of the land to the Kenya Prisons Service.
As part of the first phase of the recovery process, EACC has filed nine asset recovery suits before the Environment and Land Court in Kisumu targeting parcels within the disputed 7.6-acre section. The remaining cases will be filed in a phased approach to ensure effective case management.
The Commission said the case highlights a broader pattern of public land reserved for essential government functions being unlawfully diverted into private ownership through abuse of office, fraudulent documentation and manipulation of land allocation processes.
“EACC reiterated that public land is held in trust for the people of Kenya and must only be allocated and utilised in strict compliance with the Constitution and applicable land laws”,. Mohamud assured.
SOURCE: EACC
