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Fresh investigation on Sh1.4b Karen land saga

Tuesday, June 30th, 2020 00:00 | By
Fresh probe on Sh1.4b land saga.

A fresh investigation has been launched to establish the actual owner of a parcel of land in Karen valued at over Sh1.3 billion and claimed by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and three others.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ Land Fraud Unit (LFU), officials from the Survey of Kenya and the Ministry of Lands yesterday visited the land accompanied by three parties that claim ownership. 

Part of the investigations is to establish reports that about five acres of the land was hived off by the late businessman Jacob Juma, and sold to private developers, one of them a senior military officer.

Langata Sub-County Deputy Commissioner James Wanyoike, who also visited the land, urged the police to expedite investigations and charge the fraudsters in court.

“We cannot have several title deeds for the same land. Some of the people here are fraudsters and should be charged in court once investigations are complete,” he said.

NHIF has claimed that they bought the land from Kaskazi Traders in 2002 at a cost of Sh93 million.

The former CEO said they had not secured the beacons because the community frustrated their efforts.

Investigations, however, revealed that Kaskazi was allocated the land just four months before they allegedly sold it to NHIF.  

Initially, the land was meant for the construction of a NHIF’s resource centre but plans were later changed in favour of setting up a Sh1 billion medical centre.

One of the parties having a title deed  is a local Maasai community, represented by Peter David Parakwa, who yesterday maintained that the land belonged to them.

“We have owned this land for over 30 years. We have furnished the DCI with all the documents,” Parakwa told People Daily.

Leparkwo had earlier also tabled documents before the PIC showing that he was the owner of the disputed land, LR number 24962/2, currently valued at Sh1.3 billion.

He said that he was the trustee of the group having inherited the land from a white settler and his former employer, A.J. Faulkner and Sons Limited, in 1982.

The Ministry of Lands then gave four of them a letter and the group has since grown to over 90 people.

The land was initially registered under 13,782 but when the land documents were processed, it was later registered under 24968/1 and 24968/2.

According to government records held at Central Registry Nairobi, the land belongs to the Maasai community.

When Parliament launched investigations into the ownership, NHIF officials told the Public Investments Committee (PIC) that it has been unable to secure the land two years after getting a court order to fence it off.

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