The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Saturday arrested a government officer working at the Kisamis Land Office in Kajiado West for withholding 74 title deeds.
According to the EACC, the officer with the rank of a Deputy Land Registrar was working with an accomplice to defraud owners of the title deeds.
“EACC arrested them earlier in the week for demanding a bribe of Ksh148,000 from the complainant in order to release 74 Title Deeds held by her office without any lawful justification,” a statement from the Commission read in part.
After arrest, the two were processed at the EACC Headquarters at Integrity Centre.
They were later booked at Kilimani Police Station pending further action, as revealed by the Commission.
“The Kajiado Lands Office is among those with many complaints of corruption in land transactions,” EACC stated.
The Deputy Land Registrar is suspected to have directly and indirectly, through her accomplice, extorted money from vulnerable Kenyans seeking facilitation of land transactions.
Following the high-profile arrest, EACC announced that it was launching a nationwide crackdown on rogue officers working in various land registries.
“Notably, corruption at service delivery points hurts ordinary citizens daily and sometimes leads to denial or inordinate delay of services,” EACC explained on the reason for the national crackdown.
Members of the public were requested to report suspected corruption by any state or public official through the toll-free number 1551.
Additionally, aggrieved members of the public can report corruption cases through email address report@integrity.go.ke
Kisamis Land Registry was constructed in 2023 to ease the congestion in the Ngong Land Registry.
