The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered six prime Government properties cumulatively valued at Sh 85,000,000 which had been grabbed by private individuals in Kakamega Town, Milimani Estate.
The EACC believes the properties were grabbed in collusion with corrupt land officials.
"One of the properties recovered is the land hosting the official residence of a Deputy County Commissioner whose title deed was registered under a private individual making the Government official a squatter on the Government land," EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said.
Ngumbi said the Court has since nullified the titles for the six properties held by private individuals and ordered the Kakamega Land Registrar to issue new Title Deeds in the name of the Government.
The new titles, he said, have been issued and EACC will be handing them over to the State Department of Housing.
Speaking at the Deputy County Commissioner’s Office in Kakamega East on Friday, Ngumbi said that Kakamega County is among the counties with a high prevalence of land grabbing.
"Besides the 6 recovered parcels, EACC is pursuing 20 more grabbed parcels of land in the prime Milimani area," he said.
"The Commission has already filed recovery cases in Court to recover 8 land parcels while 12 parcels are under active investigations for recovery."
He added that the Commission is also pursuing criminal investigations against the land officials involved in the fraudulent allocation of Government land.
"The Commission calls upon all persons holding titles to grab government property across the country to voluntarily surrender the same to the Commission instead of waiting for the costly and lengthy court process which may nevertheless see them surrender the property and pay costs of the suit to the Commission," Ngumbi statted.
The EACC is empowered under the law to enter into negotiations with graft suspects to facilitate their voluntary surrender of what they have stolen from the public, under the framework of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
