The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured the recovery of a public road reserve in Mombasa valued at approximately Sh25 million after the Environment and Land Court found that the property had been illegally and fraudulently alienated.
The property, Mombasa Municipality/Block XIX/305, is located along Machakos Road and serves as an access route to the University of Nairobi’s Mombasa Campus.
In a judgment delivered on September 24, 2026, in Mombasa ELC Case No. E049 of 2023, Justice Y.M. Angima declared the lease and survey plan used to create the parcel null and void.
The court also ordered the cancellation of the relevant land and survey records and issued a permanent injunction barring further dealings with the property.
The case followed investigations by EACC into the alleged irregular allocation of land reserved for public use.
According to the Commission, investigations established that the road reserve was unlawfully excised from Machakos Road and allocated to the late Ezekiel Luyali, who was a councillor at the then Municipal Council of Mombasa.
The allocation was allegedly facilitated by David Kalume Randu, who served as Town Clerk, and Ahmed Mwidhani, the then Mayor of Mombasa.
EACC said the purported allocation took effect on June 1, 1994, followed by the issuance of a lease dated September 1, 1994, which was registered the following day.
The court found that the legal procedures required at the time for closing and disposing of a public road had not been followed.
There was no evidence of Gazette notices announcing an intention to close the road, an approved Part Development Plan, a council or committee resolution authorising the allocation, or approval by the Minister for Local Government for the purported 99-year alienation.
The court therefore held that the 1994 alienation was illegal and fraudulent and that EACC had established its case for recovery of the property.
Among the orders issued by the court were the cancellation of the 1994 lease and rectification of the land register by the Chief Land Registrar.
The court also declared Survey Plan Folio Register (F/R) No. 264/37, which created the parcel, null and void and directed the Director of Surveys to cancel and expunge it.
A permanent injunction was further issued restraining the property’s further sale, transfer, leasing, charging, disposal or any other dealings.
EACC said the judgment reinforces the principle that land reserved for public use must be managed strictly in accordance with the law and cannot be converted to private ownership through unlawful allocation.
The Commission called on public officers and institutions responsible for managing public land to exercise their mandates lawfully and protect public resources.
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