CID squad to weed out land frauds

An investigative unit has been formed to specifically deal with land issues at the ministry’s headquarters.

The move shows the seriousness the government is taking to clean up the Ministry of Lands which has been dubbed a den of corruption.

Criminal Investigations Department Director Ndegwa Muhoro said the Lands Fraud Investigation Unit is to weed out fraudsters who have conned Kenyans out of millions of shillings in the ministry.

“We’ve been at it because these cheats have gone too far. We have actually formed the Lands Fraud Investigation Unit because it was necessary to do so,” Mr Muhoro told the Sunday Nation on the phone.

Mr Muhoro said the land rackets run into billions of shillings and that “the ministry cannot be working without help from the inside .“We have to dig very deep and deal with them. The ministry is giving us all the necessary cooperation,” Mr Muhoro said.

Mr Muhoro’s announcement came as Lands Minister James Orengo announced that 17 senior officials at the ministry have been punished over the irregularities.

Of the officials, two were interdicted and 15 suspended.

Those sacked are said to have been involved in issuance of fake search results and double registration of title deeds.

Mr Orengo, whose ministry has been on the spotlight over fraud, said more officials will be sacked to clean up the mess.

“We are paying for the crimes of the previous regime,” Mr Orengo said.

On the demolitions of houses at Syokimau near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Mr Orengo said no single land owner from the area had come up with a title deed.

A parliamentary team led by Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi, which looked into demolitions of houses in Nairobi, called for reforms in the ministry.