The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has moved to court seeking to recover a grabbed piece of land worth Ksh.100 million belonging to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).
EACC accuses former Commissioner of Lands Sammy Mwaita of irregularly transferring the 3-acre (1.5 hectares) piece of land to his brother Hillary Kipkorir Mwaita.
According to the court papers, the anti-graft body secured injunction orders from the Nakuru Environment and Land Court against Hillary Kipkorir Mwaita, his brother Sammy Mwaita and the Chief Land Registrar.
“Eacc has secured injunction orders from the Nakuru Environment and Land Court against Hillary Kipkorir Mwaita who the Commission has sued for grabbing public land valued at Sh100million, where KeNHA is currently constructing its regional headquarters in Nakuru,” reads a section of the document.
Eacc records that Sammy Mwaita while serving as the commissioner in 1998 irregularly transferred the said land to his brother Kipkorir.
“In 1998, the then Commissioner of Lands Sammy Mwaita illegally and irregularly allocated the parcel of land to his brother Hillary Kipkorir Maida using a forged Part Development Plan (PDP) Reference No. R7/98/188 which does not exist in the Directorate of Physical Planning records.” Records show.
The petition lists Kipkori as the first defendant, his brother Sammy as the second and the Chief Land Registrar as the third.
Eacc also says that despite securing an order for the land to be surrendered back to the government, the defendants had failed to adhere and the first respondent had even stopped KeNHA from continuing with the construction.
In the suit, the commission sought to permanently bar the first defendant who possesses the title deed from interfering with the said property pending the hearing and determination of the case.
“That unless this Honourable Court grants an order prohibiting the 1st defendant from transferring, wasting, charging, damaging and/or dealing with the suit property, the course of justice will be defeated and the efforts by the Plaintiff to recover the suit property will be in vain,” read the orders by Advocate Brigid Maina.
EACC similarly wants the Chief Land Registrar to cancel the entries relating to lease certificate issuance and declare the initial land allocation and transfer to Hillary Kipkorir illegal.
Justice Antony Ombwayo on Monday, therefore, issued the injunction orders to Kipkorir and any other involved persons barring them from interfering with the land.
The case will be heard on January 26, 2023.
