The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has successfully recovered 0.1116 hectares of illegally acquired public land in Kisumu County, valued at Ksh 25 million.
The land, belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation, was reclaimed following a ruling by the Kisumu Environment and Land Court.
In a judgment delivered on March 20, 2025, Justice Samson Okong’o ordered the cancellation of the Certificate of Title for Kisumu Municipality Block 7/559, which had been unlawfully issued to Fred Ogonji.
The court affirmed that the land was part of a larger parcel reserved for Kenya Railways and was never available for private allocation.
EACC investigations established that the parcel was originally owned by the defunct East African Railways and Harbors Administration under Legal Notice No. 440 of 1963.
In 1986, it was transferred to Kenya Railways Corporation, its legal successor, through Legal Notice No. 24 of 1986.
However, in a shocking turn of events, the land was unlawfully allocated to Ogonji in 1998, who received an allotment letter on October 12 of that year.
Two years later, on June 30, 2000, then Commissioner of Lands, Sammy Komen Mwaita, issued a Certificate of Lease, completing the fraudulent registration process.
EACC filed suit in 2020 under case ELC/E39/2020, seeking a declaration that Kisumu Municipality Block 7/559 was public land and calling for the revocation of Ogonji’s title.
In his ruling, Justice Okong’o declared that the property had been fraudulently acquired and that the Certificate of Lease was illegal, null and void.
This latest recovery is part of EACC’s broader efforts to reclaim grabbed public land in Kisumu County.
Other notable recoveries include land belonging to the Kisumu Law Courts, Kenya Railways (Kisumu Port) and the KIWASCO water treatment plant.
Kisumu County has been plagued by rampant land grabbing, with EACC currently pursuing cases involving illegally acquired properties valued at over Ksh 4 billion, which are pending before the Environment and Land Court.
