The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered a parcel of land valued at Ksh 35 million in Bungoma Town that had been unlawfully acquired by a private individual.
The half-acre prime property, situated next to the Bungoma State Lodge and owned by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development, was originally reserved in 1961 for government residential housing.
In a ruling delivered on October 9, 2025, Justice Enock Cherono of the Bungoma Environment and Land Court declared that all transactions leading to the acquisition of the land were irregular.
“A declaration that the lease registered on 24 October 2016 in favour of the plaintiff (Ms. Nekoye) over Bungoma Township 169 was fraudulently obtained, illegal, null, and void,” the judge ruled.
The court ordered the eviction of Ms. Judy Nekoye, who had constructed a multimillion-shilling maisonette after demolishing a government house on the plot.
Justice Cherono also directed the Bungoma Land Registrar to cancel all illegal entries in the land register and nullified the certificate of lease issued to the perpetrators.
Investigations by the EACC revealed that the land, registered as Bungoma Township/169, was unlawfully allocated in 2004 to two individuals — Charles Nyasani and Scolastica Nyakerario, who later transferred it to Ms. Nekoye in 2016.
The Commission welcomed the ruling, noting that it strengthens ongoing efforts to recover public assets throughout the country.
At the same time, the EACC confirmed that it is currently pursuing 16 other prime public properties in Bungoma that are believed to have been irregularly acquired, and it urged Kenyans to exercise caution when purchasing property.
“The EACC advises the public to conduct thorough due diligence whenever acquiring property to avoid losses arising from the illegal acquisition of public land,” said the commission.
