, Tobiko wrote to Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Director Mumo Matemu directing them to conduct join investigations into land grabbing instead of carrying out separate investigations/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has now expressed concerns over the ongoing parallel probe on the massive Lamu land grab, and called for coordination between government agencies.
On Monday, Tobiko wrote to Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Director Mumo Matemu directing them to conduct join investigations into land grabbing instead of carrying out separate investigations.
The DPP said he had already appointed a team of prosecutors to assist the two police and EACC in the probe and compile a report which will be forwarded to his office.
“From media reports, it appears that investigations into the above-mentioned matter are being carried out by your respective institutions separately,” he pointed out.
And even as the probe got underway, former Lands Minister James Orengo who is at the centre of the storm insists he is unfairly targeted, and instead named powerful individuals he claims owns land illegally in the country.
“I want to say before you without any fear of contradiction and with a clear conscience that before I talk the matter at heart, that me James Orengo the Senator for Siaya on the basis of my record in the struggle to bring about reforms in the country, that I will be the last person with a free conscience to do the kind of things that I am currently being accused of,” he declared.
He said: “There would have been opportunities for me to even buy or even acquire land in many parts of this country but I decided on my own choice that one of the things I should keep off is trying to buy land however legitimate it may look.”
Orengo says among those on the list of alleged land grabbers is Deputy President William Ruto.
“This is the list (of 800 grabbers) that is bringing me trouble, and in this list you will not find the name of Senator (Boni) Khalwale there but you will find the name of the Deputy President (William Ruto), not one piece but several pieces of land that I revoked (belonging to him).”
He said the greedy land cartels belong to what he called ‘the Moi orphans’ who are agitated by reforms he undertook as a Land Minister.
EACC has since formed a special team to investigate the illegal allocations of land in Lamu County after a government audit uncovered 22 companies and organisations owning close to half a million acres of land there.
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Matemu told Capital FM News on Monday that EACC had started its investigations two months ago before the audit report by the government was released.
“The team is working on the information that is available… we are taking action in line with our mandate so that we can isolate cases of corruption,” he stated.
“The commission has visited Lamu on a programme that we call county advisory programme where part of discussion was the issue of land.”
During the advisory programme, counties sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the EACC on corruption preventive measures.
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