Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has moved to court to pursue the recovery of public land in Kericho county valued at Sh400 million.

The anti-graft agency claimed the six prime parcel of land in Kericho town, registration No. 631/169, was allegedly grabbed by private developers in collusion with corrupt land officials.

EACC said the parcel which originally measured 2.5 acres was subdivided into six plots and transferred to the private developer.

The commission indicated that the land belongs to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and should be recovered as a result.

Land register

In the recovery suit, EACC wants the court to nullify all the transactions leading to the transfer of the land and cancel all the entries in the Kericho land registry and subsequently order that a new title deed be issued as a government property.

In a statement released yesterday by the commission’s South Rift regional manager Ignatus Wekesa, EACC said investigations have revealed at the time of the allocation of the land in question to private individuals, it was already a government property and as such it was not available for allocation to the current owners or any other person, adding that all the transactions were fraudulent and illegal.

“Upon the completion of investigations, the commission commenced recovery of the land by filing a suit before the Kericho Environment and Land Court. On July 31, EACC obtained court orders prohibiting the current owners from any dealings on the land until the case is heard and determined,” the statement read.