Land grabbing on the rise as State watches

Recent revelations by the National Land Commission (NLC) that it was working to repossess grabbed public land belonging to State lodges across the country and six police stations in Nairobi is a pointer to how deep the roots of impunity have gone in Kenya.

The tussles and controversies witnessed in recent weeks in the fight over the ownership of two parcels of land in Nairobi – the Karen land saga and now Lang'ata land tussle – are indicators of high-level corruption in Government institutions.

And while Kenyans wait to see how the courts will resolve the ownership disputes in the two cases, the Lands ministry remains in focus, as it is at the Ardhi House offices where the grabbing is allegedly officiated, and dubious land-owning documents dished out to land grabbers, who later assume the title of private developers.

In the Karen land saga, the courts and other authorities are helping to unearth the ownership of the prime 134.4 acres being contested by Muchanga Investment Limited associated with lawyer Da Gama Rose and Telesource.com associated with the former National Social Security Fund Managing Trustee Jos Konzolo.

The wife of former Nairobi PC John Mburu, Carmelina Mburu, complicated the dispute even further as she laid claim to the land, denying knowledge of the former administrator ever transferring it to Muchanga Investment Limited.

Meanwhile, detectives are probing how the ownership of the land opposite Hillcrest School, on Langata Road, changed hands with claims that some politicians may have been involved in its grabbing.

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With regard to the Lang'ata Road Primary School saga, Airport View Housing Ltd is claiming ownership of land that the Ministry of Lands, NLC and the Nairobi County Government have all insisted belongs to the school, and was fraudulently acquired by private developers.

The directors of the housing company have thrown the ownership dispute in a spin even as they await the verdict of the court.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu (above) admits that staff in her office have been aiding and abetting land grabbing, even as she and NLC officials urged those who have taken possession of public land to return it.