Prominent Mombasa-based tycoons Ashok Doshi, the late Tahir Sheikh Said, Naushad A Merali (not the same as Sameer Group chairman Naushad N Merali) and Abdul Gaffur are among individuals who may have been irregularly allocated 15.862 acres of Kenya Ports Authority land in Mombasa valued at Sh313.4 million.
Auditor General Edward Ouko says in his 2015-16 report on parastatals that 29 parcels in Mombasa owned by the KPA have been taken by 19 third parties.
The KPA in some instances took no action against the invaders, Ouko says.
KPA's assets at the time of Ouko's probe were valued at Sh123.24 billion, but the ownership tussles surrounding the parastatal's assets have seen the Auditor General say that accuracy of the figure cannot be verified.
Of the 29 parcels allegedly grabbed, KPA has moved to court to recover 15. It has sought the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission's assistance.
KPA is also on the spot for failing to acquire titles for 34 parcels of land in Mombasa and Eldoret measuring 113.47 acres and valued at Sh3.48 billion.
The parastatal has 14 parcels of land in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Taita-Taveta, Busia and Kisumu that have not been utilised.
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KPA's land and buildings are valued at Sh22.3 billion while it also has leased land worth Sh6.1 billion.
Ouko points out that the lack of title deeds for idle land is an open invitation to land grabbers. He says several other parastatals are similarly struggling to recover their land from private developers.
The KPA has had proposed action plans to protect each parcel of its land but has not executed them for years, according to Ouko's report.
An unspecified area of reclaimed land around Mombasa harbour has been taken by private developers despite the National Land Commission saying it needs to authorise and allocate the land.
A firm of private developers has, according to Ouko, illegally constructed a road on the reclaimed land without permission from the Transport ministry or NLC.
The KPA is legally obliged to protect the harbour from any encroachment and the Auditor General says it has failed to do so.
In January Industrialisation CS Adan Mohamed said that government has issued notices to 700 people to vacate 3,000 acres of KPA land. They will not be compensated as they are there illegally.
The land has been earmarked for a special economic zone and an industrial park.
But local leaders are not happy. Likoni MP Mishi Mboko insists the 700 individuals must be compensated before they vacate the land.
Mohamed asked the Likoni deputy county commissioner to ensure that no more squatters encroach on the land, as the government engages the 700 individuals already living there.
Land measuring at least 100,000 acres allocated to 61 state firms and agencies either has no ownership documents, or has been taken over mysteriously by private developers, squatters, churches and other government institutions.
At least 38 state firms do not have titles for the land they own.
“Although the management has engaged a consultant to conduct verification of all its properties, no documents were presented for audit to confirm that the parcels are owned by the authority (KPA) and were free from encumbrances,” Ouko says.
Ouko lists four companies Merali co-owns — Stonewave with Abbasali Dossa, Hydery, Essam Properties and Kilifi Gardens with Masumali Merali — as invaders in his report on KPA.
The four land parcels measure 2.0282 hectares (5.011 acres). Ouko's report does not specify the value of the three parcels involving Hydery, Essam and Kilifi Gardens.
The land Hydery has been accused of grabbing is valued at Sh80 million as per the report.
Hydery is a sister company to Hobuld Limited, which Merali used to import 29,900 tonnes of maize from Mexico last year under a government contract to curb shortages.
Hydery hit the headlines this week after being linked to 600 bags of contraband sugar sold to Kirinyaga woman representative's brother Patrick Kuria.
Hydery was involved in cement and fertiliser importation controversies during the Moi and Kibaki regimes.
KPA is suing to recover three of the land parcels taken by Merali's firms.
Only Hydery's 0.25 hectare parcel is not in court.
KPA sued Merali's Stonewave Limited, Essam Properties and Kilifi Gardens in 2001.
The Stonewave and Hydery parcels have warehouses built on them.
Ouko says the parcels involving Essam Properties and Kilifi Gardens had KPA houses before the two firms flattened them and put up boundary walls.
Tahir Sheikh Said, the Mombasa who died in January last year, took possession of a plot valued at Sh51.1 million.
Ouko says TSS fenced off the land but KPA sued TSS Grain Millers in 2005 to recover the property.
The Auditor General says another Mombasa billionaire, Ashok Doshi, has invaded KPA land.
His Supernova Properties took a 0.54 acres plot, valued at Sh31 million, and Sunnex Ent a 0.38 acre plot.
Ashok Doshi and the Doshi Group of Companies are listed as the directors of Supernova Properties and Sunnex Ent.
KPA sued Supernova Properties in 2005 to recover the plot which has an office block constructed on it.
Abdul Gaffur, Osman Hajj and Zera Taarab have been linked to nine pieces of land originally allocated to KPA.
Gaffur has been accused of grabbing six plots totaling 6.12 acres through Nature Systems and Venezia Ent (both co-owned by Abdulgani Pastor and Abdulgani Abdul Gaffur Pastor).
KPA has sued Nature Systems to recover trhe parcel of 0.56 acres which was valued in Ouko's report at Sh22.9 million.
No evidence of court proceedings against Venezia Ent was presented to Ouko during the audit.
The other five parcels taken by Venezia Ent, each measuring 1.11 acres, has not been valued in Ouko's report.
Osman Hajj Talab and Zera Osman Talab took three parcels measuring 1.49 acres but their value was not disclosed. KPA has not yet taken legal action to recover the land.
The audit also found that KPA has failed to collect Sh285 million from Kenya Oil Company (KenolKobil) since 2005 without proper explanation.
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