Swazuri’s land commission on the spot over land allocation

National Land Commission gave state prime land to private developers. [File, Standard]

The National Land Commission (NLC) allocated land to a private developer who had acquired it irregularly, a parliamentary committee was told yesterday.

The National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) told the National Assembly's Public Investment Committee (PIC) that although NLC had established that Rosestar Properties Ltd had irregularly obtained the title deed for the 0.62-hectare parcel in Upper Hill, it ruled that the firm should be granted ownership.

The commission had investigated the ownership and found that the land had initially been allocated to a Government entity but was suspiciously changed to become private property.

This was despite the fact that the Ndung'u Report by the Commission of Inquiry into Illegally Allocated Land had showed that the land was illegally acquired and recommended its revoking and the plot given back to NCPD.

Similar findings

The PIC of the previous Parliament had also made similar findings in 2016 and directed NLC to revoke the re-allocation of the land to Rosestar - done in 1996 - and hand over the land to NCPD.

Yesterday PIC, chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, was told that despite all the efforts to repossess the land, now estimated to be worth more than Sh1.5 billion, the directors of the private company used the title deed to secure a loan of Sh200 million from Trust Bank, which went under.

Josephene Kiban-Mbae, the NCPD director general, told the House committee that the then Deposit Protection Fund, now renamed Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation, created a charge on the title when Trust bank became insolvent, as they wanted to recover about Sh300 million to pay the bank depositors.