Agency to repossess all grabbed army land

The state will now recover about 40,000 acres of land meant for military use that has been grabbed across the country that had been grabbed.

Preliminary findings show the land was irregular allocated to private developers as it has been gazetted for military use, the National Land Commission (NLC) said.

NLC now plans to revoke any letters of award or title deeds and restore the land to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) within a month, following the conclusion of public hearings on the issue.

The affected land includes about 29 acres in Karen and 2.51 acres in Kabate barracks, Nairobi. Others include 35,000 acres in Archers Post in Samburu County, 4000 acres in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County and another 29.85 acres in Nanyuki, Laikipia.

During the public hearings, individuals claiming the 29 acres in Karen, situated adjacent to the official residence of the Deputy President, failed to show up while directors of Giituamba limited that claim the parcel in Kabate backs only sent a written submission.

And the director of Larisoro ranch who has been occupying 35,000 acres meant for soldiers’ training in Samburu agreed to surrender it after accepting that there was an overlap from his land to the military one.

In the case of Nanyuki, the claimants failed to appear to defend their papers while in Eldoret, Leseru Tebson Farmers Society which has titles to 4,000 acres of the land appeared to defend their documents.

“The military land had already been gazetted for the Recruit Training School (RTS) and Kenya Ordinance Factory. You cannot allocate land which has already been gazetted for military use. We will therefore revoke the tittles,” NLC vice Chair Abigael Mukolwe (pictured) told The Standard.

She hinted that individuals suspected of masterminding the fraud would be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.