Mombasa County is leading in cases of land grabbing in the Coast region, this is according to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
According to EACC, there are over 120 active civil cases going on in various courts in the coast region.
EACC Head of Corporate Affairs Eric Ngumbi said the commission is seeking to return to the public stolen property worth sh.8 billion which was fraudulently acquired and is currently in the hands of private individuals.
“In the last four years, the commission has managed to reclaim public property worth sh.23.7 billion and through Corruption Disruption EACC has managed to prevent public property worth sh.32.7 billion from being fraudulently acquired,” said Ngumbi.
Properties that the commission has managed to reclaim and return to the public in Mombasa include the Hobley Road/Buxton Government estate, Tudor Road Reserve, and Government Houses in Nyali belonging to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
Below are some of the cases that are currently in the Mombasa courts;
- Illegally acquired public land belonging to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), which was set aside for the expansion of the Moi International Airport worth sh.2.5 billion.
- Illegally acquired public property including government houses for civil servants belonging to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) with a current market value of sh.358.5 million.
- Illegally acquired road reserve, worth sh.21 million, excised from Machakos Road in Mombasa currently used by the University of Nairobi’s Mombasa campus as a parking lot area.
- Five parcels of land stolen from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) worth sh.50 million
“There are two types of theft of public property that EACC deals with; one is when a civil servant uses his/her position to fraudulently acquire property and the other is when individuals fraudulently take over government land or even property, which may include money,” said Ngumbi.
