EACC Headquarters. FILE
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has recovered six parcels of public land worth over Sh300 million in Kisumu City which had been grabbed.
EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said the recovered properties include 3.2 acres of land belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation (including a road reserve) cumulatively worth Sh180 million, 7 acres of land belonging to Victoria Primary School worth Sh100 million and a house belonging to the Ministry of Housing in Kisumu Milimani area worth Sh20 million.
“Investigations by the Commission established that in some cases, the grabbers forged land ownership documents. These people also proceeded to Court seeking orders to evict the bonafide public institutions,” Ngumbi said.
Ngumbi spoke while addressing Kisumu Journalists during a site visit to the property that had been grabbed from the Kenya Railways Corporation on Tuesday.
The EACC Officials were in Kisumu conducting an anti-corruption capacity-building workshop for Journalists based in Kisumu and neighbouring counties.
“Kisumu is one of the counties with many cases of grabbing of public land in the country,” Ngumbi said.
“Currently, the Commission has filed before the Kisumu Land and Environmental Court multiple recovery suits for prime properties grabbed from various public institutions with a cumulative market value of over Sh10 billion. Hearing of the cases is ongoing.”
Ngumbi asked persons holding titles to grabbed government properties across the country to consider voluntarily surrendering 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 the costs of the suit and interest to the Commission.
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.
