• The property had been leased to the city council for 99 years from 1952.
• Executive told to survey, demarcate and fence off the property within three months .
Image: GPS
The land on which Highridge Health Centre was built was allocated to a private developer, the county assembly's Public Accounts Committee says in its latest report.
Some of the buildings have already been demolished and residents do not have a health centre.
"The process of allocating the land to the developers cannot be confirmed to have been transparent given that no records have been provided so far," the PAC report reads.
It is a response to the auditor general's query on the county executive's financial statements for 2016-17.
The land had since January 1, 1952, belonged to the defunct city council on a 99-year lease.
Further, there are no records that the land was allocated to a private developer and "any person who may claim to have the property’s title must have fraudulently acquired it by colluding with county and state officials".
The committee noted that there was no effort from the county executive to evict the illegal occupants.
When probed by the committee, the executive agreed that the land was indeed allocated to a private developer.
According to submissions from the executive, the city council contested the allocation in court but it lost the case.
The matter was referred to the National Land Commission for review but there has been no response.
The PAC led by chairman Wilfred Odalo recommended that the chief Land officer and the county attorney take up the matter. "County officials should immediately follow up with the NLC to ensure fraudulently acquired titles are revoked," the report reads.
The two were told to survey, demarcate and fence the property and put it to the original intended use within three months after the adoption of the report.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and NLC were also urged to investigate dealings involving the property and all other county properties and to prosecute those involved in their grabbing.
In addition, all encroachers should be evicted.
Governor Mike Sonko has on several occasions vowed not to relent on the restoration of all grabbed public land reserved for schools, health centres, playgrounds and roads.
In August last year, Sonko announced the repossession of a public utility land at Highridge Estate, Westlands, from people he described as land grabbing cartels.
He warned that he will not relent in the war against land grabbing saying those culpable should surrender the parcels or risk being forcefully evicted.
"As promised, we will not spare anyone in this campaign aimed at restoring to the public what belongs to them," Sonko said.
Edited by R.Wamochie