The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja and two others for assisting private developers in the illegal acquisition of public land in Kwale.
Zablon Mabeya, former Senior Lands official in charge of Coast Province, and Jabu Salim Mohamed, former Physical Planner, Ministry of Lands, were among those arrested alongside Mr Gachanja.
According to EACC, the public land in dispute is a public access road Kwale Diani/Beach Block/1072 worth Sh30 million.
The suspects were taken to the Integrity Centre for further processing in preparation for their arraignment at Mombasa Law Court on Tuesday.
EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak said the names of two of the arrested land officials featured in most of the pleadings they have filed in court seeking to recover illegally acquired public land.
“In addition to tracing and recovering public land that was illegally allocated to private developers, EACC seeks to hold all the public officials involved to account,” Mbarak said.
“Public officials hold office to serve the public interest and as such, they should at all-time desist from breaching the trust vested in them.
Investigations targeting more public officials on related public land matters are ongoing.”
