He told Swazuri in his letter that “there is a need to issue the Comptroller of State House and the Principal Secretary, National Treasury with title deeds to these strategic institutions/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 1 – As reports emerged on Monday of a hotel being constructed on Mombasa State House land by a private developer, the National Land Commission (NLC) has launched investigations into land grabbing at four other State Lodges.
The lodges are Kisumu, Kakamega, Nakuru and Eldoret.
This follows a formal complaint filed to the Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri by the Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Kimemia.
In his complaint, Kimemia identified individuals believed to be behind the grabbing, “including senior government officials within the security and Judiciary departments of former regimes,” where the Kakamega State Lodge is concerned.
In Eldoret, Kimemia said tens of acres had been grabbed by politicians, “and other individuals,” who then sold it to a golf club and unidentified businessmen.
Kimemia did however give names where the Nakuru State Lodge is concerned, identifying two individuals as “the main beneficiaries of illegal acquisition,” who have already erected buildings on the said land.
And given what is emerging to be a widespread problem, Kimemia has called on the commission to extend its investigations countrywide by: “Appointing a team to compile a comprehensive report on these irregularities with a view to commencing the process of recovering land belonging to State House and Lodges that is illegally and irregularly in the hands of private developers.”
He told Swazuri in his letter that “there is a need to issue the Comptroller of State House and the Principal Secretary National Treasury with title deeds to these strategic institutions.
This comes as the NLC said it would conduct a second set of public hearings on the 500,000 acres of land in Lamu which President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered investigated on July 31. READ: Uhuru orders tough action over grabbed Lamu land.
“We are in the process of drafting formal complaints against those unable to prove during the first round of hearing, the legal acquisition of community land. We will then call on them to respond to the complaints, again at a public hearing, where we will call witnesses etc in a quasi-judicial process,” NLC Chief Executive Officer Tom Chavangi told Capital FM News.
About The Author
