A little-known firm, Leseru Tebeson Farmers Society, claiming to represent squatters, holds a title deed to 4,000 acres of Kenya Defence Forces land in Uasin Gishu County. The military is quite categorical that it has not surrendered any of its land to anyone and therefore the title deeds IR194659 for (LR No. 27206/3) and IR194660 (LR No. 27206/4) are “fraudulently issued”.
Yesterday, the Daily Nation learned that detectives from the Land Fraud Investigation Unit, headed by Kenya’s seasoned detective Geoffrey Kinyua, succeeded at the eleventh hour to seize vital documents and block the sub-division of the huge chunk of land.
Located just 20 kilometres outside Eldoret Town, the military land is designated as a buffer zone between the Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation (KOFC) and the public but has been at the centre of a push and pull between the military and squatters. Land Registrar Betty Atieno issued the title to Leseru Tebeson Farmers Society in February, swiftly setting in motion plans to sub-divide the plot and dish it out to various individuals. The lease document shows that the group was given a 99-year lease starting January 1, 2006 after paying Sh12.75 million in premiums. Leseru Teberon was to part with Sh318,860 annually in land rates.
Last month, the Defence ministry invited the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti to investigate how fake title deeds were issued to individuals, yet the land was long ago gazetted for military use, Nation sources said.
The ministry, in its communication with the police, was categorical that it had not de-gazetted any of the land it was given for the KOFC and the Recruits Training School.
The land in Eldoret is just one in hundreds that the military has lost over the years. The Defence ministry, in a recent cry for help to the National Land Commission (NLC), estimated that 40,000 acres of its land have been grabbed.
[Source: The Daily Nation, by Mutuma Mathiu and Brian Wasuna]
