DPP should urgently go after those who've stolen KDF land

Cumulatively, the Kenya Defense Force (KDF) has lost 40,000 acres of land across the country. This includes 35,000 acres at Archers Post, 29 acres in Karen, 29.85 in Nanyuki an a 3,900 acre piece of land in Uasin Gishu on which KDF’s bullet factory was built.

How private individuals appropriated land belonging to the Army is a subject of conjecture, but leaves no doubt that land grab is still here with us. Who in their right mind would contrive to steal land from the KDF? But obviously after stealing all other public land, taking what belongs to those who keep us safe wasn't farfetched. Indeed, stealing public land has been a subject of public discourse for a long time without much being done about it. Only recently did the government start acting as manifested in the demolition of buildings that sit on riparian land within Nairobi.

One wonders what role the Ministry of Lands and the National Lands Commission (NLC) played in the appropriation of KDF's land. So chaotic has the Ministry of Lands been over the years that in 2014, then Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu closed the Lands Registry for "streamlining operations".

NLC, while it should act above board on matters of land, appears to have failed. In many instances, it has been accused of complicity in illegal allocations. Beside KDF, the National Youth Service (NYS), KCAA, KAA, Prisons department and Schools have lost land to grabbers. In 2015, pupils of Lang’ata Road Primary School protesting the grabbing of their schools playground were teargassed by the police.

Earlier this year, President Kenyatta assured Kenyans that over 23,000 acres of land belonging to NYS would be repossessed. The list of individuals who had illegally taken parcels of the NYS land reads like who is who in Kenya.

And even as the government earmarks the demolition of 500 go-downs alleged to have been illegally constructed on land belonging to the Kenya Airports Authority, it should not be difficult to ascertain how most of the illegally acquired land was taken. Records of transactions and approvals exist within the Ministry of Lands and NLC, thus, no effort should be spared in ensuring all those involved in illegal transfers and acquisition of land belonging to government institutions are brought to book.

With the demolitions of Ukay Centre, the Airgate building in Embakasi and the South End Mall in Lang’ata that sat on riparian land, the indication it will no longer be business as usual should be sustained.