- A public property dispute has reached a turning point following a court-recorded agreement.
- The land hosts government houses and had been at the centre of a legal challenge over its allocation.
- The recovery highlights ongoing efforts to protect public assets and restore government land ownership.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered 1.05 acres of land holding three government houses in Kakamega Town, a property valued at about Ksh40 million that belongs to the State Department for Housing and Urban Development.
The plot sits in the Milimani area, next to the Kakamega State Lodge. It is registered as Kakamega Municipality Block III/212.
The recovery followed a court-recorded agreement. On September 22, 2026, Justice A. Nyukuri of the Environment and Land Court (ELC) adopted a consent in which the private holder of the lease gave up all his right, title and interest in the property. The court also ordered the Chief Land Registrar to correct the land register by cancelling the entries relating to that lease.
The agreement ended a suit the commission filed in 2024, in ELC Case No. E009 of 2024, against the leaseholder and the then Commissioner of Lands. The case challenged how the land was allocated and registered.
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According to EACC, its investigations found that the land had been set aside and developed for government housing, which meant it could not lawfully be given to a private individual. A letter of allotment was nonetheless issued on December 10, 1992, and a lease was registered on June 4, 1993.
The commission said the land never stopped serving its original purpose. The three houses remained part of the government housing stock and appear in the Government Building Register under the references KAKA/HOU/MG/33, KAKA/HOU/MG/34 and KAKA/HOU/T/HG/4.
EACC is now seeking cancellation of the title and registration of the property in the Government’s name, a step it says will restore the State’s legal interest and protect the houses for continued public use.
The commission also urged anyone buying land to carry out thorough due diligence, including verifying the root of title and confirming that the property has not been reserved for public use. It said it remains committed to recovering public assets acquired through corruption or other unlawful means.
By Benedict Aoya
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