EACC recovers grabbed road reserve valued at Sh30 million in Nyali
The land forms part of the Classic Road reserve, previously vested in the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council for road maintenance and future expansion.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has won a 12-year legal battle to recover a sh30 million public land that had been grabbed in Nyali, Mombasa.
Following the judgment, the 0.13-hectare parcel, initially reserved for the expansion of Links Road adjoining 1st Avenue, has now been restored for public use.
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The ruling made on Wednesday declared the issuance of title MN/I/9816 to Sheikh Ali Taib (now deceased) illegal, null, and void ab initio.
The land forms part of the Classic Road reserve, previously vested in the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council for road maintenance and future expansion.
In his judgment, Justice Stephen Kibunja of the Mombasa Environment and Land Court directed the Mombasa Land Registrar to cancel the title and rectify the land register accordingly.
Describing the seizure of the parcel as a historical injustice over public property, Justice Kibunja further issued a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from trespassing upon, transferring, or in any way dealing with the property, except by surrender to the Government of Kenya. The defendants were further ordered to pay the costs of the suit with interest at court rates.
The case came up after a probe by the anti-graft agency established that on January 19, 1996, the then Commissioner of Lands, without any application or justification, demarcated, alienated, and allocated the parcel on a 99-year lease from February 1, 1996, which irregularly issued a Grant, CR Number 28222, to Shaibu Hamisi Mgandi on March 15, 1996.
Shaibu, shortly after, sold the parcel to the late Sheikh Ali Taib, who obtained a title for parcel number MN/1/9816, measuring approximately 0.13 hectares.
"Having come to the finding that the procedure in applying for the plot and issuing the letter of allotment was not followed, then Shaibu did not acquire a good title over the suit property that he could pass on to a third party. It follows that the title to the suit property carefully held by Sheikh is invalid and has been impugned," the judge ruled.
On May 13, 2013, the EACC filed Civil Suit No. ELC 85 of 2013 at the Mombasa Environment and Land Court against Shaibu, Abdullah Ali Taib (administrator of the estate of the late Sheikh Ali Taib), and former Commissioner of Lands, Wilson Gachanja, seeking to nullify the illegal allocation and recover the land for public use.
"This judgment reaffirms the Commission's commitment to recovering illegally acquired public property and ensuring that such assets are restored for the benefit of all Kenyans," the commission said on Thursday.
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