- Kisumu City Residents Voice Association chairman Audi Ogada said the recoveries are a huge step towards fighting corruption.
- He urged NLC to publicise all public lands recovered by EACC and hand them to the county governments to manage
Image: MAURICE ALAL
Kisumu residents have praised EACC for the recovery of grabbed public properties valued at more than Sh4 billion
Some of the recovered properties include Kibuye market land valued at Sh2 billion, the 1.5 acre Taifa Park land worth Sh500 million and three other Judiciary properties valued at Sh940 million.
Kisumu City Residents Voice Association chairman Audi Ogada said the recoveries are a huge step towards fighting corruption.
“We appreciate the commission's effort in recovering stolen property in Kisumu. We appreciate them more for saving Kibuye market from notorious grabbers. However, many public lands are still in the hands of cartels. The lands should be repossessed,” he said.
“We have faith in the EACC and in collaboration with the other stakeholders including judiciary, the properties will be recovered,” Ogada said.
He urged NLC to publicise all public lands recovered by EACC and hand them to the county governments to manage.
“As we celebrate and appreciate the efforts the Commission has made, we want to caution the county governments not to grab the lands but only manage them,” Ogada said.
Some of the grabbed lands were earmarked for markets, schools, road reserves, government houses and hospitals.
Other grabbed parcels include Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company land, meant for water pipeline and treatment.
Private developers have put up homes on the land, making it difficult to expand water supply to the growing city population.
Ogada also wants the land grabbers to be prosecuted and in found guilty, jailed.
"We have people who call themselves investors, yet what they do on a day-to-day basis is steal government land’’, he said.
Meanwhile EACC is also seeking to recover land in Kibos area, which was set aside for the establishment of Kisumu Industrial Park.
EACC in June last year handed over title deeds of recovered public land worth Sh5.2 billion to former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o, who attended the event, praised EACC for the recovery.
He said the grabbers have been viciously fighting back, with some of them going to court to fight for land that belongs to the public.
“I want to assure the people of Kisumu that the recovery of Taifa Park is just but a tip of the iceberg,” Nyong’o said.
“This land is valued at about Sh500 million at the current market rates. We now have the original title deed, which I am officially handing over to the lands department for safe custody."
EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak said recovery of Kibuye market started following the governor's call to the commission.
He said the grabber was demanding a payment of Sh7 billion to relinquish the market or evict the traders.
Kibuye market has served people from Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley regions since 1971.
It is a source of income for more than 5,000 traders.
Nyong’o assured residents that his administration will recover all stolen public properties.
“With the help of EACC and the NLC, we shall fearlessly and mercilessly crack down on the land cartels” he said.
The county chief decried that irregular allocations and land grabbing have negatively impacted the growth of the lakeside city.
He urged those holding onto illegally acquired government land in Milimani, Kibos, Migosi and Kanyakwar areas to surrender before action is taken against them.
On May 12, 2022, Kisumu City manager Abala Wanga raised concerns over high number of grabbed properties.
Wanga said 21 pieces of land, including the land hosting the IEBC office, had been grabbed.
The grabbed lands include playgrounds, parks and social amenities.
EACC Western regional manager Abraham Kemboi said there are several cases which are being processed for recovery in the region.