The Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) has partially paid for a piece of land it is unable to access. This is because Lands Cabinet Secretary (CS) Farida Karoney was blocked by the Auditor-General, Nancy Gathungu, from implementing a directive to issue a title deed.
This is because two private companies are claiming ownership of the same piece of land in Kasarani, Nairobi county. The two firms are Roysa Society and Kasarani Mall Limited.
Roysa Limited is reported to have paid an amount of Ksh69,500 to get approval from the lands ministry.
Karoney appeared before the parliamentary committee in charge of implementation to explain why her ministry had not issued title deeds to Roysa society 180 days after Parliament passed a judgement to end the tussle.
Karoney defended her ministry stating she received an advisory from the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu not to hand over the contested title deeds.
In 2001, the piece of land was allocated to Kasarani Mall Limited. This was despite a compulsory acquisition process that had been initiated by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
In January 2017, Kasarani Mall Limited was forced to relinquish the land after High Court Judge George Odunga stopped their planned eviction of settlers in a piece of land owned by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
In 2019, under the new county government, and the revamped National Land Commission (NLC) also allocated the land to petitioners who claimed to be occupying it.
In more recent developments, the World Bank tasked Karoney with enabling the digital reforms unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The National Land Information Management System (NLIMS) dubbed Ardhisasa was brought forth to ease.
