About a month ago, 15 anti-graft officers arrested Kisii
lands registrar Steve Mokaya and all staff of the lands office on allegations of corruption.
Mokaya’s arrest came soon after he rejected 40 letters of grant suspected to have been fraudulently obtained from the High Court in Kisii and presented to his office for title deeds to be issued.
Speaking for the first time since his arrest by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission officers, Mokaya told the
Star he was a victim of malicious witch-hunt.
He said he was attending a meeting of departmental heads at the Kisii county commissioner’s office, when he was called out by a clerk with information that there were officials from Nairobi in his office who wanted documents urgently.
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When he arrived at his office, he found a team of about 15 people, led by South Nyanza regional manager David Kang’ara, who pounced on him and directed him not to touch anything. They demanded to search him.
“I allowed them access to whatever they wanted to search. They ransacked my pockets and pulled out my wallet, which had Sh5,000. They screened the money against the serial numbers of the treated denominations, but they found my money was clean,” Mokaya says.
Mokaya said the officials summoned all members of staff and asked them to surrender everything in their possession.
“One staff member from South Mugirango had Sh17,000, which she told the officials was meant to buy stock for her family business. The officials screened the money and none of it matched the serial numbers of what they had,” Mokaya added.
After arresting Mokaya and other staff, Kang’ara told
the press the suspects had been colluding with clients to deny the government revenue.
“We have managed to recover Sh34,000 from the suspects and the treated ones, which we used to lay a trap,” he said.
But Mokaya dismissed the allegations and said out of the Sh34,000 that was found with all members of staff, only one staff, called Odhiambo, was found with treated money.
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EMBARRASSING MOMENT
“When the officials screened money that one of my staff members had, they verified two Sh500 denominations’ serial numbers matched the treated money,”
he said.
“After finding nothing implicating me and the other members of staff except Odhiambo, the EACC officials appeared embarrassed. I asked them what I could do to help them complete their work. One of them said we all needed to go to Kisii police station for further grilling.”
Mokaya said when he protested why he should be taken to the police station, the officers became hostile and roughed him up.
“The EACC officials handcuffed me, dragged us into their waiting vehicles and drove to the Kisii police station, where all the staff were locked up. The following day, we were given Sh50,000 bond and asked to go home,” Mokaya said.
He said his arrest was instigated by those who were not happy with his anti-corruption crusade, including digitisation of the land records, which had minimised theft of pubic land at the Kisii lands office.
“This arrest was intended to embarrass me at the behest of the land grabbers we have blocked from stealing public and private land in Kisii,” he told the Star.
Despite the hue and cry from the public over the land grabbing menace, Kisii MPs (except Kitutu Chache South’s Richard Onyanka) have been silent for fear or reprisals.
Not even the Sungu Sungu militia, which was formed ostensibly to crack down on criminals, has risen up against the land grabbers, as the public appears helpless against the cartels that seemingly enjoy protection.
DOUBTFUL DOCUMENTS
Mokaya became suspicious after reviewing 40 letters of grant purportedly issued by the High Court in Kisii.
“After scrutinising the letters, I suspected they were not genuine and contacted the court to verify their authenticity,” Mokaya said.
“The court informed me that all the letters were forged. I therefore asked the police to launch investigations but at the end of the day, it is me now who’s in the frying pan, being hunted down like a criminal.”
His rejection of the letters triggered a series of actions. Resident judge David Majanja issued comprehensive guidelines on succession documents at the court. A circular from the High Court in Kisii seen by the
Star
lays out a raft of new rules aimed at curbing land fraud.
The land registrar said he had intercepted hundreds of fake documents which, if processed, could have displaced genuine land owners.
Mokaya gave the example of land belonging to American-based Kenyan journalist Peter Makori, registered as WANJARE/BOGIAKUMU/3266, whose titled deed was forged by the same cartels fighting to remove him from Kisii.
Makori, who filed a case at the Environment and Land Court in Kisii, claims his land was seized by land grabbers about two years ago. The land which he purchased in 1998 is occupied by powerful and well-connected individuals in Kisii.
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Mokaya said land grabbing has gone high-tech and involves wealthy people who acquire and sell land through criminal means.
“Previously, Kenyans battled to protect public utility land from land grabbers. Today in Kisii, both private and public utility pieces of land are being targeted by a new crop of very powerful land grabbers with good connections within the police system.”
Mokaya accused EACC officials in Nyanza South of colluding with crooks in Kisii who were fighting his efforts to end land grabbing.
He accused two parliamentary and one county assembly losers from Nyaribari Chache, Kitutu Chache and Bonchari constituencies respectively of fighting him after he refused to accede to their corrupt manoeuvres.
None of the “suspect” lands officials have been produced in court, over a month since they were dramatically arrested.
Mokaya told the Star in an interview that he discovered rampant corruption when he arrived in Kisii less than two years ago.
“I started by transferring all the officers who had worked in the area for more than 20 years and digitising land records to curb manipulation of land ownership documents by land grabbers,” Mokaya said.
Mokaya said he was working with his seniors in Nairobi to reform the land sector, despite resistance.
“We are the people who have been fighting corruption. How can I be the one to engage in that vice, when I have put my life on the line to protect public and private land in Kisii?”
He said the cartel used to issue certificates and charge residents more money while seeking for search services at the office.
Law Society of Kenya Nyanza chairman Wilkins Ochoki says Mokaya has helped deal with the rot in the Kisii Lands Registry.
“Mokaya has tried to fight cartels and lessen the rot in the registry. Duplication of records, which was rampant in Kisii, is now a thing of the past. Some land parcels, especially in Nyanchwa, have up to five different leases. Land grabbing in this place is massive,” he adds.
PUBLIC LAND GRABBED
Nearly all public utility land in Kisii town and its environs has been grabbed. Private land has not been spared by the vicious grabbers, who operate with impunity. National Land Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri described land grabbing in Kisii as “raw and daring greed”.
He named among grabbed parcels land belonging to the Kisii police station, Independent Electoral Commission, National Intelligence Service, Kisii Fire Station, Kisii Cemetery, Kisii Dumping Site, Oresi Hospital, Kisii Children’s Home, Kenya Agriculture Research Institute, public markets and several education institutions.
Several access roads, road reserves, riparian areas and land meant for recreational parks have also been grabbed. In 2015, Governor James Ongwae said 46 government houses had been irregularly acquired. Some of the houses were demolished and storey buildings put up.
Even though Swazuri promised in February 2016 the commission would recover the parcels, nothing has been done.
The Seventh Day Millennium Adventist Church has been accused of grabbing part of the land belonging to Kisii Children’s Home. The case is in court. The grabbing is done by the political class directly or through proxies.
The defunct Kisii Municipal Council and Gusii County Councils have also been indicted for land grabbing. Some former Kisii Municipal mayors and council chairmen have been blamed for the mess in Kisii.
In September, the NLC revoked a title deed irregularly acquired by Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri in Kisii town.
The land meant for a municipal market was reinstated to the Kisii county government, according to a gazette notice.
When he appeared before the NLC, Ongeri said he rightfully acquired the land in 1981 at a cost of Sh6,000, when he was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. Ongeri spoke during a hearing chaired by NLC vice chair Abigail Mbagaya.
Land grabbing cartels collude with some lawyers, judiciary officials, land registry staff to forge documents, including signatures of judges and other court officials. Some of the fake documents, including grant letters, have judiciary letterhead, rubber stamps and seal.
A businessman in Kisii town, who asked not to be named for this story, said buying land in Kisii is hazardous.
“Almost all available land has issues which you discover after you pay, transfer and move to occupy the land. Some plots have three title deeds, which emerge after a search and transfer is done. I have lost a lot due to these, even after following the process diligently. Maybe digitisation will save us,” he said.