EACC seeks recovery of Sh4.3 billion prisons land grabbed in Kisumu

Integrity Centre.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has filed civil suits seeking to recover 7.6 acres of public land in Milimani, Kisumu City, allegedly excised from land belonging to the Kenya Prisons Service and unlawfully converted into private ownership.

According to the Commission, the disputed land is valued at approximately Sh790 million, excluding developments, and an estimated Sh4.3 billion, including developments.

The land forms part of an original 16.2-acre parcel that had been reserved for the Kenya Prisons Service for staff housing and regional offices.

EACC said the recovery action followed a petition by the Kenya Prisons Service in February 2022, which sought investigations into the alleged illegal occupation, subdivision and alienation of the land.

Investigations established that the land was set aside for prison use by the colonial government in 1961 through a Legal Gazette Notice. Formal documentation began in 1965, with planning documents and survey records designating the land for prison headquarters and staff housing.

The Commission said subsequent development plans issued in 1971 and 1978 reaffirmed that Parcel No. Kisumu Municipality Block 10/98, measuring 6.556 hectares (16.2 acres), was reserved exclusively for Kenya Prisons Service facilities.

EACC said the Kenya Prisons Service had occupied the land and constructed staff houses on it before some of the houses were allegedly demolished during the illegal takeover.

According to the investigations, in 1989 the late former Assistant Minister for Home Affairs and National Heritage, Grace Emily Akinyi Ogot, allegedly colluded with the then Commissioner of Lands, Wilson Gacanja, and other land officials to fraudulently acquire about 7.6 acres of the prisons land for private use.

The Commission alleges the land was acquired through forged allotment letters, forged Part Development Plans (PDPs), false representations and other fraudulent documentation.

Investigators further claim that although the initial request was for land to establish a secondary school to be known as Grace Ogot Secondary School, the plan later changed and the land was instead allocated for private residential development.

EACC alleges that, as the Assistant Minister responsible for the Kenya Prisons Service at the time, Ogot improperly used her position to secure the allocation.

The Commission further claims that the grabbed land was later subdivided into 92 parcels and sold to unsuspecting buyers. The area has since been extensively developed and is now commonly known as Winam Estate or Grace Ogot Estate.

The Commission is seeking court orders cancelling all titles arising from the disputed transactions, declarations that the entire chain of allocations and transfers was illegal, fraudulent, null and void, and restoration of the land to the Kenya Prisons Service.

As part of the first phase of the recovery process, EACC has filed nine asset recovery suits before the Environment and Land Court in Kisumu targeting parcels within the disputed 7.6-acre section. Additional cases will be filed in phases.

EACC Chief Executive Officer Abdi A. Mohamud said the case reflects a wider pattern of public land reserved for critical government functions being unlawfully converted into private ownership through abuse of office, fraudulent documentation and manipulation of land allocation processes.

He reiterated that public land is held in trust for the people of Kenya and must only be allocated and used in accordance with the Constitution and applicable land laws.