The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has won a major legal battle to recover public land that had been illegally excised from Nairobi’s Karura Forest and the Kenya Technical Teachers College (KTTC).
In a judgment delivered by the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi, the court ruled that the parcels of land, including Nairobi Block 91/130, 91/333, and 91/386, were unlawfully allocated to private individuals and companies.
The court declared the allocations null and void and ordered that the land revert to the government.
“A declaration is hereby made that the alienation to the 1st and 2nd defendants of the land comprised in Nairobi Block 91/130/333 and 386 was irregular, fraudulent, and illegal and consequently null and void,” Justice David Mwangi said in the judgment.
“Further, the certificate of lease issued to and held by the 1st Defendant in respect of Nairobi Block 91/386 was unlawfully and fraudulently obtained and is therefore null and void ab initio.”
The first defendant is Gigiri Court Limited, and the second is John Kamotho.
According to the judgment, investigations by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, now EACC, revealed that the disputed 7.11-hectare parcel had been carved out of Karura Forest, a gazetted public forest, and land reserved for KTTC.
The allocations, made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, violated the Government Lands Act and the Forests Act, which prohibit the alienation of forest and public institutional land without proper legal processes such as degazettement.
The court found that there was no evidence of any legal notice degazetting the portion of forest land or authorising its allocation.
It ruled that the Commissioners of Lands, and defendants Wilson Gachanja andJames Raymond Njenga, acted ultra vires — beyond their legal authority — when they approved the excision and allocation.
EACC demonstrated that the parcels were consolidated through questionable surveys and paperwork to create a new title, Nairobi Block 91/386, which was later transferred to Gigiri Court Limited, a company associated with John Kamotho.
by SHARON MWENDE
