The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) wants the High Court to declare four parcels of prime land in Eldoret town public property and the allocation to a company associated with former President Daniel Moi and late minister Nicholas Biwott illegal.
In submissions filed in court, the EACC said the land, where the Eldoret fire station and administration police camp stand, had been set aside for public use. The four parcels of land were allocated to Lima Ltd between 1995 and 1998.
The defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case in 2006 seeking to find out whether the land was set aside for public use and whether it was validly alienated.
According to the EACC, the parcels on Uganda Road, Oginga Oginga Street, Elgeyo Road and the road connecting Uganda Road at Zion Mall junction were reserved for a district commissioner’s office, courts and an AP camp.
Documents filed in court stated that in meetings of the board of survey for government offices and houses held in the DC’s office on September 7, 1995, and January 11, 1996, all government and municipal houses on the land were earmarked to be brought down, paving the way for allocation.
And save for block 4/157 which was allocated to Lima Ltd, all other parcels were not available for alienation. The commission says the houses were targeted not because they were old and incapable of repair but due to sitting on prime land and needed to pave the way for commercial development by private entities.
The parcels in contention are Eldoret Municipality Block 4/53, 54 and 55 and block 4/129.
[Article source: The Business Daily, by Sam Kiplagat]
