The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered a Ksh 2.8 billion worth 7.11-hectare parcel of land that was previously grabbed from Karura forest and the Kenya Technical Training College.
In a ruling, on the 23rd of October this year, the Environment and Land Court delivered a judgment cancelling the title of the land that had been acquired by Gigiri court limited, which obtained the property from the late Environment Minister John Joseph Kamotho, who is said to have been allocated the two parcels illegally.
With the case taking 18 years in court, the anti-graft commission reaffirmed its commitment to keep up the fight in asset recovery, even as it warned individuals to avoid engaging in shady deals.
According to EACC, the two parcels of land which were later amalgamated into one through amalgamation of block 91/130 originally reserved for KTCC and Nairobi block 91/333 which was part of Karura Forest that was not degazetted were illegally allocated to late former minister of environment John Joseph Kamotho prompting the then Kenya anti corruption commission to file a law suit in the year 2006
The court held that the land was alienated government land and its allocation to the minister was in contravention of the Forest Act and the Government Lands Act. With this win, EACC now says it will step up the fight against illegally acquired public assets
The commission has, in the last year, filed eight recovery suits seeking to recover assets valued at approximately Ksh 4.8 billion.
Some of the concluded cases include the recovery of a road reserve land worth Ksh 30 million that had been grabbed in Nyali, Mombasa, a prime parcel of land worth Ksh 35 million belonging to the State Department Of Housing And Urban Development next to the Bungoma state lodge, public auction of six prime properties recovered from former Migori governor Okoth Obado and former head of Treasury at the City County of Nairobi Mr Stephen Osoro valued at Ksh 75.4 million and the recovery of public land valued at Ksh 50 million located within the Kenya Railways Lighthouse Kizingo estate belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation.
