Lands cabinet secretary Farida Karoney has been asked to act on ministry officials at the Kitale lands office and Ardhi House headquarters after revelations that land related cases in courts are taking more than 20 years without determination. This comes as court cases involving land under leaseholds take long with bona fide owners losing their parcels to cartels protected by a section of the political elite and some security chiefs.
“Powerful cartels in Trans Nzoia are now posing as land buying societies and are closely enjoying 24-hour security protection after intervention by powerful politicians. We are asking Karoney and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate this matter conclusively,” said Daniel Kariuki of the Kenya National Lands Alliance.
Farida Karoney
He said many security officials in the county had caught pants down on several occasions where land cases among them a parcel of land belonging to former cabinet minister Odongo Omamo had been overlooked. According sources, a former National Lands Commission officer in Kitale has been conniving with officers at Ardhi House to overturn land leases, some of which have proved too difficult for them. A case at hand is that pitting Meso Multipurpose Society and Luore Nyairo, which has taken over 20 years with the rightful owners having been frustrated even after having paid for the parcels of land now being occupied by squatters.
The massive irregularities emerging point an accusing finger at a top lands registrar, who hails from Trans Nzoia, for colluding with others at the Kitale lands registry and a section of politicians to defraud a land owner of his rightful ownership. Francis Wafula, the former NLC officer, denied accusations that he had been colluding with his relative who works at Ardhi House in Nairobi to frustrate Luore Nyairo Company from developing their land. The question of Meso Multipurpose Society’s land has been taken over by squatters. The society allegedly paid only Sh.5 million for a 600 acres farm that remains unresolved to date.
Samson Ojwang
The malpractice is over land parcel LR No 7060/2, which reveals myriad inconsistencies that have opened a window for fraud. Wafula could not explain why Meso Multipurpose Society has failed to sue the late James Ouko whom the company he represents as chairman sold the land in question. “We paid Sh300,000 to Mr James Ouko and continued depositing more money on the accounts of Agricultural Finance Corporation and it is true that parcel 7060/3 was auctioned by the corporation on 9th October 1997 even after our company having duly paid Sh2,777,330 in respect of the same parcel.
An officer at the Kitale AFC confided that land parcel No 7060/4 should not be put under any dispute. According to the records, LR No 7060/2 was sub divided into LR NO 7060/4 and duly registered in the name of Luore Nyairo Company measuring 250 acres with another one measuring 350 acres, which is being purported to belong to Meso Multipurpose Society registered in the name of AFC. It is only the Lands cabinet secretary who can intervene in this matter and solve the puzzle on whether it is true that Meso Multipurpose Society paid AFC money to help avert further disputes which have hindered the owner from developing his farm.
Luore Nyairo according to records was issued with 999 leases in 1990 on the LR No7060/4 even as AFC remains adamant over the Meso claims of ownership. That illegalities continue unabetted in the ongoing legal tussles is undeniable even as the lands central registry in Nairobi continues to be thrown to the mud in an unending crisis as cartels and politicians continue using security officers in Kitale to defeat justice in courts.
Odongo Omamo
One wonders who and why powerful cartels are being given protection to make illegal occupations of private land and demands that those behind this be arraigned before court since there is overwhelming evidence incriminating them. It is further said that it is only in Trans Nzoia where such illegalities are taking place and many wonder whether the constitution had been suspended to allow open theft to thrive with proceeds from the same land being used to defeat justice through unending appeals. “According to records from the ministry of Lands, Luore Nyairo Company duly followed the process in the transfer yet all monies from the same piece of land are being used to frustrate the owners of the land,” said the source.
Trans Nzoia county commissioner Samson Ojwang said the government is investigating claims of cartels colluding with some ministry officials to defraud other people of their rightful land ownership. “Outright theft is punishable by law and we are on top of things to end the complaints raised. We will not be tolerating any evil committed against the great people of Trans Nzoia and anyone found will be dealt with,” he warned. The administrator further said any local politician colluding with security officers to lease parcels of land as claimed will be asked to explain with appropriate action being taken. The administrator’s warning comes in the wake of reports that over 20 families in Trans Nzoia among them the daughter of Omamo are facing eviction after suspected syndicates working with corrupt land officials secured title deeds for their land.
Jane Kigen, a widow of former Health permanent secretary Samuel Kigen in Chereng’ani, is among the leaseholders who have lost plots worth millions of shillings to the land grabbers as the Lands ministry went ahead issuing land titles to cartels. Kigen said she was in the process of securing a title deed for her plot only to be informed by the Trans Nzoia county land registrar that a lease certificate for her only plot left to her and the family by the late husband had been issued to another person. “I am ready to die here. I have lived here with my children and grandchildren for the past 32 years and I do not have anywhere to go. They will take away my plot over my dead body,” she said. Trans Nzoia county registrar Nelson Odhiambo refused to comment on the several cases among them the Luore Nyairo, Odongo Omamo and now the widow of Kigen and referred us to the Lands CS Karoney.
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