By W, KNA
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has recovered a 0.074-acre parcel of land valued at Sh12 million that had been reserved for police housing at Karatina Police Station in Nyeri County.
The said land was surrendered to the Commission by the registered owner, Peter Thinwa Ngari, following the adoption of a consent between the two parties by the Environment and Lands Court in Nyeri.
The agreement brings to a close the 13-year court battle between the EACC and Ngari.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission had in May 2013 filed a case against Joseph Mithamo Wachira (first illegal owner), Ngari, the then Provincial Physical Planner in the Ministry of Lands, John Muriuki Ruthuthi and the former Commissioner of Lands, Wilson Gacanja seeking to recover the land.
The petition followed investigations by the EACC revealing that the property had been illegally transferred to a private individual.
Further investigations had also revealed that a1998 survey had subdivided part of the police land and generated two development plans Ref. No. C20/98/4 for a proposed residential plot and Ref. No. C20/98/5 for the Karatina police station.
The excised parcel was allocated to Joseph Mithamo Wachira, who later transferred it to Ngari.
“Investigations found that the irregular excision and allocation of the public land were facilitated by Johnson Muriuki Ruthuthi, and Wilson Gachanja. At the time of the survey and allocation, the land had already been designated as Government property for police housing and was therefore not available for subdivision or allocation,” said the EACC in a statement.
Through the consent, which was adopted by Justice Evans Makori on February 17, Ngari agreed to surrender the certificate of lease for the parcel of land to the EACC without any conditions.
According to the consent, the land registrar in Nyeri was also directed to cancel the certificate of lease issued to Ngari on July 19, 2001 and to expunge all entries made relating to the transfer and issuance of the lease for the land.
The registrar was also directed to register the land under the National Police Service, in the care of Karatina police station.
In their statement the EACC said that the conclusion of the case will now pave the way for the land to be utilised for its intended public purpose.
It also appealed to individuals in possession of land or holding land ownership documents for Government land, to voluntarily surrender them to the Commission under the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework.