Shameless land grabbers sharing land belonging to Museums of Kenya

Some of the country’s most iconic national heritage sites have been allocated to private individuals.

Consequently, the Public Investment Committee of the National Assembly has asked the National Land Commission to revoke all titles for irregular allocations of land belonging to the National Museums of Kenya (NMK).

Some of the land, which includes gazetted sites such as Fort Jesus and Hyrax Hill prehistoric site, was meant for the construction of museums in various parts of the country.

“The committee had a statement of the financial position of the National Museums of Kenya as at June 30, 2014, that reflected an amount of Sh1.5 billion relating to the value of land that has been lost to private developers who are grabbers of public land,” Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah told the National Assembly.

NO DOCUMENTS

The National Museums of Kenya has 110 parcels of land spread across the country out of which 37 have title deeds. Thirty-eight of them, although surveyed, have not been registered under NMK while 33 remain unsurveyed and have no ownership documents. The two named are under dispute.

The loss of public land, according to the committee, was the result of failure on the part of individuals who held the offices of Director of Survey and Commissioner of Lands between 1995 and 2001.

“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate and if found culpable, recommend prosecution of the individuals for their role in the irregular allocation of National Museum of Kenya lands and failure to take action to protect public property,” the report recommends.

The committee has also given National Land Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri six months to revoke all the titles for the irregular allocation of NMK land and begin the process of issuing titles.

The report revealed that the parcel of land meant for the construction of Eldoret Museum was allotted through PDP No Eldoret 17/91/91 on August 1, 1991, and a letter of allotment issued in September 1995.

However, information given to the committee shows the land was allocated to an undisclosed third party in 1995 and subsequently sub-divided into 12 plots.

Despite NMK raising the matter with the Commissioner of Lands in 2001, no response from relevant government agencies was ever received.