By Anderson Ojwang
In Kisumu County, the sanctity of a title deed is in question and the presence of fake titles or title deeds issued on grabbed public land is a common feature.
For years, developers and investors have often run into trouble over fake titles and lost millions of shillings in dubious land transactions in the lake city.
Unscrupulous people, in collusion with some government officers, have issued title deeds on public land, which have now returned to haunt innocent and unsuspecting Kenyans who purchased and invested in those lands as the government hammer looms large.
Central Nyanza Director of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Mr Abraham Kemboi, has warned investors and developers to undertake due diligence before they enter into any land transaction in Kisumu.
“Before you buy any land in Kisumu, kindly undertake due diligence. Before you buy land in Kisumu, look at the basic documents. Go to the physical planning office and look at the original plan of Kisumu town, spell out public land and private land,” he said.
He said any title deed tainted with illegality or fraud is not protected by law and will revert to the original owner.
“Please don’t waste your money on land set aside for the public. It remains for public use. Any title which is tainted with an illegality or fraud is never protected by the law.
That you cannot claim you are an innocent purchaser for value for something which was originally acquired as a result of a criminal act.
So those titles are not protected by the law and those with such titles within this town are exposed. You are walking around with papers and not an instrument of ownership,” he said.
The rush to invest in one of Kisumu’s upmarket estates in the city may soon come back to haunt investors and developers as the EACC plans to move in to recover grabbed public land.
Recently, Kemboi said some of the estates in the Milimani area have been constructed on public land, denying Kenyans the intended value, and will be reclaimed by the government.
He named the estates as Block 12 in the Milimani area, which the Commission intends to recover.
Kemboi said they will also recover Block Nine (9), where real estate investors and developers have built multi-million-shilling properties.
He said unscrupulous people grabbed public land and sold parcels to innocent and unsuspecting Kenyans, who subsequently developed the properties.
“Some estates in the Milimani area such as Block 12 were grabbed and we are intent on recovering the same.
We are also looking at Block Nine, which is historically Kenya Prisons Service land. Some unscrupulous Kenyans took away land which belonged to the Prisons and sold it to unsuspecting Kenyans.
Those Kenyans developed the grabbed land but we are moving in to ensure that the parcel of land is taken back to the Kenya Prisons Service,” he said.
In Milimani, several government houses have been grabbed, with some rented to various government departments which pay rent.
“We will recover that parcel of land, including taking action against all the government officers who were involved in the fraudulent allocation.
We will recover what we think are the proceeds, the income that you have earned from irregularly occupying that government property,” he said.
He said grabbing of public premises is common in the Milimani area, where people have taken government houses and rented them back to the same government.
“Some commissions are being housed in premises and paying rent for what they should not be paying,” he said.
He said 40 per cent of public land and properties in Kisumu have been grabbed, with three police stations — Kasagam Police Station, Carwash Police Station and Mamboleo Police Station — affected.
“It cannot be that as a private person you have taken away a police station and you want our police officers to be squeezed in a corner while you, as a private person, own the largest part of the police station.
Examples of police stations whose parcels of land have been grabbed are concentrated in Kisumu East Constituency. A police station in Kasagam, a police station in Carwash and a police station in Mamboleo Showgrounds have most of their parcels of land grabbed,” he said.
He wondered how grabbers have been acting with such impunity as to even acquire land belonging to a police station.
“It is very interesting that people can be so daring that they want to take away police land and evict officers who guarantee our security. You want to feel so nice, you want to look like an entrepreneur — how can you be that enterprising when most of the time you focus on taking away what belongs to us?” he said.
Kemboi said 40 per cent of public land in Kisumu has been grabbed and they are working to recover it.
“Generally about 40 per cent of public land that was earmarked for public use is actually in the wrong hands.
When I speak of public land, I speak of land which was earmarked for Kenya Railways, Kenya Prisons, public housing locally, land which was earmarked for police stations and other public utilities such as schools, roads and health facilities. Do you know most of these parcels are in the wrong hands?” he said.
Kisumu County was last year categorised among six counties in the country as hotspots for land theft.
He said the EACC was undertaking measures to return grabbed public land back to the government.
“As a Commission we have taken steps to ensure that these lands are returned to the public for the good use of all of us.
Much of the reports reaching my office, especially in Kisumu East Constituency where grabbing is rampant, indicate that we are moving in to recover most of those grabbed parcels of land,” he said.
He warned the grabbers that they risk prosecution and forfeiture of investments made on grabbed public land.
“We want to warn these grabbers that you will be wasting your investments when you deploy your resources in a parcel of land that was traditionally and historically set aside for the good use of the people of Kenya,” he said.
Kemboi expressed optimism that most of the grabbed land will be recovered and reverted to the public for its intended purpose.
“You are wasting your investment. The law has been clarified; in Kenya currently, precedent has been set that whatever was set aside for the good use of the public will revert to its original and intended use. No one under the law has the authority to grab public land and make it their own,” he said.