The fraudsters' shenanigans

By JOB WERU

Proliferation of land-related fraud has laid bare dirty games by State agents hence putting the trust that Kenyans should have on State departments at stake.

The Lands ministry has carried loads of blame for perpetuating illegalities conducted in lands registries within the country. Some of them even implicate the Judiciary through concocted succession cases, which have never been before courts of law.

The fraudsters work in cahoots with lands registrars, some lawyers, police and some Provincial Administration officials who sit in land boards.

They target lands whose owners are long dead and whose relatives have not filed succession cases in courts to transfer the land for them to acquire title deeds.

Mr King’ori Wambugu, whose aunt’s land was allegedly stolen in such deals, says the fraudsters also compromise the police who conduct investigations after the fraud is discovered.

"They know they erred, and in such cases, it appears they bribe the police to escape justice," he said.

"Most of these cases have been dropped on claims that they are more of civil than criminal in nature, while it is very evident that there was fraud and forgery," says James Mugo.

It is astonishing that the crooks have also gone further to steal lands, which are placed in the custody of the Public Trustee.

"The use of dead people and forging of signatures of already dead or retired lands registrars complicates the investigations. At last, the owners are left without land," says Wambugu.

In some matters, the alleged succession cases are done successfully when the owners of the lands are still alive.

"Where and how can a succession case go on when the owners of the lands are still alive," Wambugu wonders.

Company disguise

In one of the cases, the registered owner of Aguthi/Gatitu/1206, Dr Jane Wangare Mureithi died on November 24, 1996. But a copy of the Green card indicates that another person took over ownership of the land through a succession on April 24, 1996.

The alleged succession went through seven months before the owner died, as shown in the green card. In some other cases, the fraudsters disguise themselves as companies, where they even use names of non-existent people.

The entities are registered by the registrar of companies, but they end up undertaking dirty games that deny innocent and poor people their hard earned investments.