The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has identified Mombasa as one of the counties in Kenya with serious land-grabbing cases.
The commission announced on Tuesday that it is pursuing over 130 cases in court to recover seized public properties worth approximately Ksh.10 billion in the coastal region.
According to the commission’s CEO, Twalib Mbarak, they have so far successfully recovered several properties in Mombasa through litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), such as the Hobley Estate in the Buxton area, next to the Affordable Housing Project in Mombasa.
The property is worth Ksh. 500 million and is currently home to County Government employees.
Six government houses belonging to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and one belonging to the Ministry of Housing have also been recovered, totaling Ksh.420 million.
On September 9, 2021, the Coast Water Works Development Agency filed a complaint with the EACC alleging that public land owned by the Agency had been taken over by private entities in collusion with public officials.
The anti-corruption agency determined that the properties had indeed been seized and titles issued to various private individuals and companies. Some of the beneficiaries sold the land to third parties, who then charged it with banks for massive sums of money.
The illegal allocation involved the creation of three parcels with a total market value of Ksh.365,000,000.
So far, EACC has filed three recovery suits in Mombasa’s Environment and Land Court, requesting that private individuals’ titles be revoked.
As the case continues, the court has issued orders prohibiting the defendants from making any improvements to the property.
Notable cases in court where EACC seeks to nullify grabbers’ titles include land belonging to Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and set aside for the expansion of the Moi International Airport worth Ksh.2.5 billion; government houses for civil servants belonging to KRA valued at Ksh.358.5 million; and five parcels of land stolen from Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) worth Ksh.150 million.
The commission also seeks to recover a road reserve worth Ksh. 21 million excised from Machakos Road in Mombasa, as well as a land parcel worth more than Ksh.100 million seized from the Postal Corporation of Kenya in Mombasa by a senior county official.
