The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has revealed that the government will construct apartments under the Affordable Housing Programme on the multimillion-shilling Hobley Estate in Mombasa County that was recovered from land grabbers.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, November 25, EACC's CEO, Abdi Mohamud, confirmed that the Ksh500 million estate has already been flattened and is now ready for the construction of 720 housing units.
Mohamud said that the 4.8-acre parcel of land is part of the Ksh1.4 billion worth of assets the commission has recovered in Mombasa County over the past three years, which will also be used for other projects by the Mombasa County government and the National Government.
The recovered assets in Mombasa include a road reserve valued at Ksh30 million, Kenya Airports Authority Land valued at Ksh104 million, Kenya Railways Land valued at Ksh50 million, as well as two parcels of land belonging to Mombasa County Government, valued at Ksh26.5 million.
The recoveries, according to the commission, have been achieved through court processes as well as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
"According to EACC Chief Executive Officer Abdi Mohamud, the agency is currently pursuing recovery of approximately Kes 10.3 billion worth of assets," the statement from the commission read.
"The recovered properties are earmarked for public utility use by various government institutions, including the KAA, KRA, KPA, Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the County Government of Mombasa, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), among others," it added.
The commission assured that it will not backstep in spearheading the recovery of more assets from grabbers, in a broader bid to combat corruption in the country.
Karura Land Recovery
The announcement comes a month after the commission managed to recover a 17-acre parcel of land that was grabbed from Karura Forest 27 years ago.
In a ruling on Thursday, October 23, the Nairobi Environment and Land Court determined that the land, which is worth Ksh2.8 billion, was illegally grabbed and sold to private investors in 1997, after being unlawfully allocated to former minister Joseph Kamotho.
The court found that the parcel of land was a combination of two parcels, which were initially reserved for the Kenya Technical Teachers College (KTTC) and a section of Karura Forest, thus making them public land.
The case, which was filed on September 10, 2007, sought to recover the land because its allocation and registration were illegal and contravened the Forest Act and the Government Lands Act.
