EACC to Seize Sh1 Billion Property Grabbed from Woodley Estate

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) got a green light to seize over 100 residential properties grabbed in Woodley Estate in Nairobi valued at about Sh1 billion.

This is after the Court of Appeal on Friday ruled in favor of the commission. The Appeals Court upheld a judgement by the Environment and Land Court which had ordered the said land to be returned to Nairobi County Government.

The three-judge bench comprising Justices Francis Tuiyott, Jessie Lesiit, and Grace Ngenye-Macharia termed the acquisition of the public property by private developers ‘fraudulent, illegal, null and void.’

The case commenced in 2006 and saw EACC, which was when the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) file about 52 recovery suits at the Environment and Land Court.

Justice Samson Okong’o at the time declared the title held by Paul Moses Ng’ethe invalid, null, and void for all intents and purposes for having been acquired fraudulently, further directing the Registrar of Lands to cancel ownership of the land by private developers.

The ruling prompted Ng’ethe to appeal the case, which has now been dismissed for lack of merit and confirmed the entire judgement of the Environment and Land Court.

“The orders which commend themselves to us to make are the appellant’s appeal against the judgment of Okong’o delivered on the 27th February 2020 in ELC No. 2054 of 2007 has no merit and is hereby dismissed, the judgment of Okong’o, J. is confirmed in its entirety and the 1st respondent will have the costs of the appeal,” ruled the court.

Ng’ethe was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal to EACC.

EACC will now move to ensure appellant, his agents, tenants or any other persons currently occupying the recovered property deliver vacant possession for handover to the Government.

The anti-graft body will also be seeking to finalize all other suits pending before the Environment and Land Court.

The Estate also known as Joseph Kang’ethe is said to comprise of prime residential houses standing on about an acre each.

The commission has been seeking to reclaim stolen public property and has won a series of cases.