Serving and retired senior policemen duped to buy KBC's 1,204 acres

Senior police officers are among the people duped into buying land grabbed from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

Government spokesman Col (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna disclosed at his weekly press briefing yesterday that between 2012 and 2017, a group calling itself Komarock Ranching and Farmers' Cooperative Society Ltd invaded the land.

"It subdivided it into 612 plots. The plots were then offered for sale to unsuspecting Kenyans," Oguna said.

The acreage was 499.5 hectares (1,204.04475 acres) along the Kangundo-Nairobi road registered as Donyo Sabuk/Komarock block 1/9218,  Machakos.

Oguna said the land was bought by the national broadcaster in 1980 and used as a decommissioned medium and short wave transmitter station.

"Equipment and accessories estimated to be worth hundreds of millions in Kenya shillings are still maintained within the same premises. Studio Mashinani, a government project to empower youth is also domiciled within these KBC facilities," he said.

The KBC fenced the land and obtained a restraining order which the cooperative society disregarded and invaded the land in August 2017. It destroyed part of the fence and erected beacons and then started "selling" the parcel.

Oguna said other people suspected to have bought the property include serving and retired police officers as well as officers from the Department of Coordination of National Government.

Ironically, officers from the Ministry of Lands and prominent politicians were also duped.

"The DCI has taken up the matter and members of the public are being warned that this is a case of conning and are warned that anybody who purports to buy land from this group will not only lose their money but will also expose themselves to criminal prosecutions," Oguna said.

He refused to name those who might have been duped.