By Dickens Wasonga.
Nyanza PC Francis Mutie has moved fast to alley fears amongst leaders and residents of Kisumu town over alleged grabbing of a public land within the municipality which has stunned many in the lake side city.
The PC said the controversy over the alleged illegal grabbing of Taifa park by a private developer in the town needs to be laid to rest once and for all because the government still holds a genuine title deed against the parcel.
He was reacting to remarks made by the Kisumu town west MP Olago Aluoch during Madaraka Day celebrations who claimed the park had been grabbed while the relevant authorities were dragging their feet instead of bringing the culprits to book.
The MP took issue with the municipal council f Kisumu over the manner in which the council was allegedly handling the matter adding that all plots within the city was held in trust on behalf of the government by the local authority which must ensure they are not illegally acquired.
”Am surprised by what His worship the deputy mayor has just told this gathering.It is not enough to just tell us you have a genuine title deed when another person also claims ownership of the very parcel you have a stake on” said Olago.
He said the council was just a trustee and could not sell any public land it holds and asked the PC to ensure action is taken against people who have grabbed the said land and many others while forging documents.
”Bwana PC many public buildings,including government houses have been grabbed and it is time those behind the schemes are arrested and charged for the offences. If you falsify a government document then that is forgery – a criminal offence punishable by law.”
Kisumu has of late been on the sport -light with many individual land owners, government departments and even co-operate entities losing huge chunks of land to fraud-stars believed to be working in cahoots with a section of allegedly corrupt land officers who are reportedly aiding them to alter government records which are kept under lock and key.
Currently most people who own land within the town and its environs are understood to flock the Kisumu land offices to conduct official search just to make sure their plots are still intact.
Investigations revealed the situation has moved from bad to worse and reports indicates at the moment detectives from Kisumu DCIO’s office are investigating how the fraud-stars manage to steal land behind the backs of genuine land owners before selling the illegally acquired plots to unsuspecting developers.
Last week and in relation to the alleged cases of the fraudulent sale of land that has hit the area, the CID officers picked a senior officer in the department for questioning.
A prominent lawyer based in the town who facilitated the questionable transaction on behalf f his Asian client was also picked by the detectives and recorded his statements at the Kisumu police station before he was later released.
Speaking separately over the increasing cases of land theft in the town another lawyer who confirmed he had handled several such cases from some of his clients said the cartel,most of whom operate under the name of land agents can not successfully falsify records at the land office without using an insider.
”To stop these cartels ,the police must first identify officers who help the these brokers cum agents to get access to records like green card which in most cases they change. There is no way records can tally while brokers have not access to the strong room where some of the documents are kept.”said the lawyer.
Sometime last year a one time Kisumu OCPD was thrown out of his official house by people who claimed to have bought it and wanted to use it. It was later demolished by the said owners.
A senior officer working at the department who asked not to be identified confirmed that over 20 files were being held for ear that fake title deeds could have been issued.
The officer also stated that efforts have been put in place to help nub dishonest and corrupt officers within the department who could be aiding the crooks to tamper with government records at the office.
The case which the CID is following is said to involve a piece of land allegedly under the name of an Asian working at the Format mattresses in Kisumu which was reportedly stolen and later sold to another Asian based in Nairobi.
It is also claimed that several government buildings within the city meant for civil servants have been sold in the recent past to individuals and efforts to recover them are still futile.
When he took over as the minister for Lands many expected James Agrey Orengo to clean up the ministry which was largely believed by majority Kenyans to have been tainted with corruption.
Residents of Kisumu still hope that he has not yet lost the fire and that he will finally crack the whip especially on these notorious brokers who pitch camp outside the local lands office everyday waiting for opportunities to con unsuspecting clients.
ENDS.