A senior director of Survey in the Ministry of Lands risks losing her job after a court declared she is unfit to hold public office over fraudulent land transfer in Karen, Nairobi.
High Court Judge Nelson Abuodha ruled that Polly Wanjiku Gitimu's promotion to a senior position was an error owing to the fact that her integrity had been questioned.
"In view of the unresolved issues touching on the 1st interested party (Ms Gitimu) involvement in fraud and corruption, she is unfit to hold the position of Director of Surveys in any capacity.
"To ignore such serious allegations and allow her to hold the position will be against Chapter 6 of the Constitution," Justice Abuodha stated.
Wanjiku was charged together with Former Lands CS Charity Ngilu in 2015 over the fraudulent transfer of a disputed Ksh8 billion land in Nairobi’s Karen area,
The Court of Appeal, however, dismissed the charges on a technicality finding that the EACC was not properly constituted when it recommended the charges.
In his recent ruling, Justice Abuodha maintained that even though the case had been dismissed the allegations of fraud against Gitimu remained reasonable impediment for her to be promoted to the position of Director of Survey.
He added that the post required a person of high integrity to gain public confidence.
In the petition filed by Simon Okumu, he argued that the Director's alleged involvement in massive fraud and falsification of documents for the Karen land showed she lacked integrity and her continued holding of office posed danger to the public and government.
"She was implicated in corrupt practices involving falsification of land records. It was unclear why she was appointed to such high position mandated to safeguard sensitive land records when she has unresolved corruption and land fraud relating to falsification of land records," Okumu told the court.
Gitimu is yet to be cleared for the position and in her defence, she stated that she was never convicted of the allegations and that she is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In a gazette notice released on Friday, February 19, the Cabinet Secretary revoked the appointment of Polly Wanjiku Gitimu as the chairperson of the Land Surveyors' Board.
In her place, the CS appointed Maritim Weldon to take over the post with the pronouncement taking effect from January 18, 2021.
