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Ministry forms team to address rampant land fraud
A fraud syndicate at the Ministry of Lands is suspected to be at the centre of the preparation of fake title deeds to target public land or duplicate titles for private land.
The Ministry of Lands has set up Multi-Agency Teams (MAT) comprising top security agencies to help it combat land fraud, a parliamentary committee heard.
Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir told the Committee on Implementation of House Resolutions that it is working with security authorities to fight increasing threats of fraudulent land transactions.
He told the committee chaired by Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala that the ministry has stepped up a number of efforts to root out corruption cartels and illegal dispossession of land.
“We have put in place several measures aimed at eliminating cases of land fraud. We are working with authorities to fight land fraudsters,” Mr Korir said.
“We will not rest until we eliminate all land cartels and fraudsters who have been trying to dispossess genuine land owners of their properties.”
Mr Korir said the MAT comprises sleuths from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the National Police Service, the National Intelligence Service, the Business Registration Service, the Government Printer and the National Land Commission.
Early this month, authorities arrested several people in connection with a fraud syndicate in the Lands Ministry in Nairobi.
The fraud syndicate was alleged to possess, or fraudulently prepare all kinds of documents required to support the registration of title deeds.
The documents recovered from the operatives include certificates of title, certificates of lease, letters of allotment, deed plans, and transfer forms, all of which are at the centre of the process of preparing titles on allocation or transfer of land.
The syndicate is suspected to be at the centre of the preparation of fake title deeds to target public land or duplicate titles for private land.
Among those arrested were individuals working at the Ministry of Lands whose role is to introduce fake title deeds into the government’s manual and digital systems.
The syndicate forged signatures of former and serving land administration officers, stamps of land registrars, and backdate documents while preparing fake titles.
Appearing before the Committee on Implementation of House Resolutions, Mr Korir told lawmakers that the ministry is working to tighten controls in order to weed out fraud.
He appeared before MPs to provide the status of implementation of the report of the Departmental Committee on Lands regarding a petition by former workers of the late Mayer Jacob Samuels on invitation and eviction of workers from their land in Roysambu Constituency by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The government compulsorily acquired 17.16 acres of land from Mayer Jacob Samuels, whose lease expired in 2003.
The land has been the subject of a dispute between KDF, Solio Construction Company and Uchumi Supermarkets, among others, forcing the Kenyan military to enter and evict former workers of the late Jacob Samuels who were also claiming the land.
The House on December 5, 2019 approved recommendations by the Departmental Committee on Lands requiring the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, in consultation with the National Lands Commission and the Nairobi County Government to complete the titling process for L.R No 5875/2 within 180 days of tabling of the report.
The House also approved a recommendation that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) investigate the officers of the Ministry of Lands who may have caused loss of public funds by effecting fraudulent transactions relating to the said parcel of land and prosecute any person found culpable and report to the House within 90 days.
The committee directed the Ministry of Lands to secure the title relating to LR 23393 with a view of ensuring that innocent Kenyans do not lose money through fraudulent transactions as evidenced by the attempts to amalgamate it with L.R No 5875/2.
“The recommendations by the Committee fall under the mandate of the Ministry of Interior and National Administration and the National Land Commission and the State Department for Devolution. Therefore, they are best placed to give a status report,” Mr Korir said.
“The mandate of the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning under the provisions of the Land Act 2012, Sections 134 and 135 is to provide access to land to squatters and displaced persons on available land.”
He said currently, there is no land identified for purchase of land for the said purpose.