- The EACC on Friday mounted an operation that led to the arrest of the six.
- The Board reportedly sits once per month to process various applications.
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EACC detectives have arrested six members of the Embu Land Control Board who were allegedly collectively demanding bribes, in the form of illegal mandatory fees, from persons seeking the consent of the Board to undertake land transactions.
The EACC on Friday mounted an operation that led to the arrest of the six.
The Board reportedly sits once per month to process various applications.
Their arrest came on the very day the sat to process applications from various residents.
By the time EACC detectives arrived at the Board offices in the morning, the suspects had allegedly collected over Sh150,000 from different members of the public who had turned up for processing of their applications pending before the Board.
In launching the investigations, EACC had received information that the Embu Land Control Board is notorious for corruption and that it operates an illegal payment scheme where every service seeker is required to pay a mandatory fee of Sh2,000.
"It was reported that any person unable or unwilling to pay the Sh 2,000 is usually denied the service and turned away," an EACC Source told the Star.
In the undercover operation, EACC detectives noted that, indeed, the service seekers, who turned up for the monthly hearing of their applications, were first required to make their payments before being ‘admitted’ for hearing of their matters.
"When our detectives struck and disrupted the bribe collection exercise, a total of Sh 150,000 had been collected from the residents and kept under a drawer manned by one of the Board Members," EACC said.
Land Control Boards in Kenya are appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for Lands under the Land Control Boards Act Cap 302 Laws of Kenya and are mandated to control by way of issuing/ rejecting consent for dealings in agricultural land (land outside townships and municipalities) within their jurisdictions.
The land transactions subject to regulation by Land Control Boards include land sale, transfer, mortgage, exchange, subdivision, lease and any related land dealings.
In order to ensure that the large number of citizens waiting to be served did not miss the monthly hearing if the Board Members were arrested immediately, EACC allowed the Board Members to serve all persons present.
They were arrested after the hearings which ended at 8:00 p.m.
The suspects were escorted to Kiritiri Police Station where they were processed and released on bond pending further action in accordance with the law.
Bribery at service delivery points, including Land Control Boards, hurts ordinary members of the public on a daily basis and in some cases leads to automatic denial or delay of service.
"As such, citizens seeking services should not succumb to bribe demands. Instead, service seekers should always expose any official demanding a bribe by calling EACC Toll Free Line 1551," EACC said.