Mugo Njeru
11 July 2008
Nairobi — Two Cabinet ministers and other leading personalities are among the beneficiaries of land set aside to resettle victims of past political violence in the Rift Valley Province.
Joel Gisunta Mwita (in white jacket) and his family members stand outside his damaged house on the border of Kuria East and Trans Mara Districts. Scores of families have been displaced after their homes were destroyed by people believed to be pursuing stolen cattle. Photo/FILE
Investigations by the Nation reveal that those who got land at the Moi Ndabi settlement scheme in Naivasha include senior politicians, civil servants and close relatives, top military officers and former bosses of State corporations.
The biggest beneficiary was a shadowy company, Interspan Limited, which was allocated 226 acres .
The owners and directors of the firm could not be identified because the file containing the company's details has vanished from the offices of the registrar of companies.
Equally missing were files for Sian Enterprises and Mid Kenya Enterprises which got 22 acres each.
The allocations were done in 1994, at the height of the Kanu administration. The land was irregularly dished out about a year after land clashes erupted in Enoosupukia in Narok North Constituency. The area MP and current National Heritage minister William ole Ntimama was among the beneficiaries alongside the current Livestock minister, Mr Mohammed Kuti.
Now, the Naivasha Member of Parliament, Mr John Mututho, has written to Lands minister James Orengo asking him to nullify the illegal allocations and ensure that the land reverts to genuine squatters.
Mr Mututho further wants the minister to speed up the issuance of title deeds to genuine residents of the settlement scheme.
The land had been set aside for resettlement of hundreds of families violently evicted from Enoosupukia in October 1993 during the campaign that targeted communities believed to be against the then ruling party, Kanu.
Revelations of the irregular allocations came ahead of a visit to Moi Ndabi today by the parliamentary committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources.
According to documents, not even land set aside for public utilities like schools, health centres and markets was spared in the rush for the 3,000 acres.
According to the documents , which have been confirmed as the true records by the Ministry of Lands, Mr Ntimama got land parcel number 1250 measuring 82 acres while Dr Kuti got about 18 acres.
Mr Ntimama publicly supported the 1993 evictions saying the were aimed at immigrant communities whom he accused of illegally encroaching on forest land and water catchment areas.
Other beneficiaries include an assistant minister in the Office of the President, Mr Simeon Lesrima, 40 acres, a former Permanent Secretary in charge of the then Directorate of Personnel Management, Mr Gaylord Avedi (37 acres) and another former PS Julius Kandie Chesang (48 acres).
The District Commissoner for Nakuru at the time, Mr Aden Noor Aden got 48 acres while other DCs who benefited included Mr Eliud Parsankul (37 acres), Mr Abdullahi Leloon (30 acres) and the late Titus Ngoyoni (20 acres).
In 2002, Mr Ngoyoni became MP for Laisamis and an assistant minister until he died in the 2005 Marsabit plane crash alongside assistant minister Mirugi Kariuki and the then North Horr MP Bonaya Godana. According to the documents, Mr Godana was also a beneficiary of the irregular allocations after he got 42 acres.
Former assistant minister Ezekiel Komen was allocated two parcels of land measuring a total of 32 acres and another former assistant minister and ex-Isiolo North MP Charfano Guyo Mokku was given 55 acres. A former High Court Judge, David Rimita, was allocated 32 acres.
Also in the list of beneficiaries were some clergymen, with the Rev C.M. Mutai getting 20 acres and the Rev Joel Chebii listed with 18 acres.
Senior military officers in the list include former Kenya Air Force commander Maj Gen Nick Leshan, who got 55 acres, Maj Gen G.N.O. Oyugi, (who is remembered for his role in supervising the rescue mission after the 1998 Nairobi terrorist bomb blast (30 acres), Lt Col M.O. Oyugi (10 acres), Lt Col R.K. Cheruiyot (18 acres), Maj Charles W. Wachira (21 acres) and Warrant Officer 1 Hassan Omar (10 acres).
Officers at the Ardhi House Ministry of Lands Headquarters were not to be left out of the allocations. A former director of the Physical Planning Department at the time, Mr R.K.Bwagwa, was allocated 20 acres, while a former senior assistant commissioner of Lands, Mrs P. Amiani and a senior official in the same ministry but now with Nairobi Metropolitan Development ministry, Mr T.G. Ndorongo, got 10 acres each.
Other beneficiaries included a former managing director of Kenya Seed Company, Mr Nathaniel Tum (28 acres), his counterpart at Kenya Wine Agencies, Mr Paul Chemng'orem (48 acres) and one Dr Heda who got 43 acres.
One company, Trade and Development Associates, whose directors are listed as former Lands PS Nehemiah Ng'eno and his wife Emily got 50 acres. The land is adjacent to 226 acres allocated to the other shadowy firms whose files have gone missing from Government records at Sheria House.
Residents at the scheme said that several parcels of land which had been left for public utilities had also been grabbed by Ministry of Lands officials and well connected individuals.
A resident, Mr Pius Langat, and his neighbours, Mr Samuel Ngugi, Mr Bernard Njogu and Mr Stephen Njoroge claimed that a surveyor based in Nakuru had grabbed about 20 public utility plots. Others who took other parcels of land included a former area MP and a councillor.
The residents have asked the Government to investigate the circumstances under which Land Reference numbers 819 set aside for a health centre and 1396 which was for sinking a public borehole had been allocated to a businessman.
They say LR numbers 1248, 1249 and 1275 had been illegally allocated to people closely associated with the former MP and should be repossessed.
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