EACC RECOVERS GRABBED KENYA RAILWAYS LAND VALUED AT KES.25 MILLION

EACC RECOVERS GRABBED KENYA RAILWAYS LAND VALUED AT KES.25 MILLION

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered grabbed public land located within Kisumu County, measuring 0.1116 hectares and valued at Kes 25 million belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation.

In a judgment delivered on 20th March 2025 by Justice Samson Okong’o of the Kisumu Environment and Land Court, the Court ordered for cancellation of Certificate of Title to Kisumu Municipality Block 7/559 issued to Mr. Fred Ogonji for having been obtained illegally. The land, being part of the larger Kenya Railways Corporation land was not available for allocation to private individuals.

The EACC investigations established that the land parcel no. Kisumu Municipality Block 7/559 was originally owned by the defunct East African Railways and Harbors Administration, as per Legal Notice No. 440 of 1963. In 1986, the land was transferred to the Kenya Railways Corporation, the successor of the East African Railways and Harbors Administration, through Legal Notice No. 24 of 1986.

Shockingly, it was discovered that 12 years later, the land was unlawfully allocated to Fred Ogonji, who received an allotment letter on October 12, 1998. Thereafter, on June 30, 2000, the then Commissioner of Lands, Sammy Komen Mwaita, issued a Certificate of Lease, finalizing the registration process.

The Commission moved to court in 2009 vide ELC/E39/2020 seeking a declaration that land parcel number Kisumu Municipality Block 7/559 was public land and for cancellation of the Certificate of Title issued in favour of Fred Ogonji.

Justice Okong’o, in his judgment, held that the suit property was not available for allocation to private individuals and that the purported Certificate of Lease issued by the Commissioner of Lands was fraudulent, illegal, null, and void as the land had already been alienated for public purposes.

This recovery is just one of the many properties that EACC has reclaimed in Kisumu County. Other notable properties include the Kisumu Law Courts (Judiciary) land, Kenya Railways Land (Kisumu Port), and the KIWASCO water treatment plant.

Kisumu County has been plagued by numerous cases of land grabbing, with EACC actively pursuing cases involving properties valued at over 4 billion shillings that are currently pending in the Environment and Land Court.