Court declines to dismiss graft case on Oburu in Kisumu land

A High Court judge declined to dismiss a case in which nominated MP Oburu Oginga is accused of illegally acquiring a piece of land in Kisumu.

Justice Stephen Kibunja said he concurred with the explanation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) that the six-year-old case should be heard to its logical conclusion.

He said dismissing the suit was not the way to go before the parties had presented evidence.

The defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) moved to court in 2010 and obtained interim orders blocking Dr Oginga from selling or transferring the disputed parcel.

The anti-graft body argued that Dr Oginga fraudulently obtained the registration of the suit property belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation.

RAILWAY RESERVE

The agency sued Dr Oginga and Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita, a former Commissioner of Lands.

Court documents indicate that the land was surveyed in 1935 and set aside as part of the railway reserve.

It was duly registered and subsequently vested in the defunct East African Railways Corporation.

However, in 2001, Dr Oginga allegedly procured a lease over the property from Mr Mwaita, then Commissioner of Lands, and registered it at the district land registry in Kisumu on February 12, 2001.

And after obtaining the interim court order, the anti-graft body suddenly went quiet, forcing Dr Oginga to seek for the dismissal of the case for want of prosecution.

The legislator argued in court that EACC had not taken any steps to prosecute the case and that the delay was unreasonable.

SURRENDER LAND

He filed seven grounds to demonstrate why the suit ought to be dismissed.

Opposing the application, an investigator with the commission, Stanley Miriti, swore an affidavit saying Dr Oginga had offered to surrender the land title after it was revoked through a gazette notice on November 26, 2010.

Mr Miriti added that the EACC was in the process of complying and should therefore be granted the opportunity to prosecute their case.

But Dr Oginga denied ever offering to surrender the title, arguing that he followed the right procedure to acquire the property.

PROSECUTE CASE

The judge noted that EACC had already filed a list of documents, statements of issues to be canvassed and a list of witnesses it intended to call.

He said the list of documents were in court on April 28, 2016, and was part of the process by EACC to prosecute the case.

The judge  noted that to prosecute the case, it required parties to make total disclosure, file any documents including recording, and serving the witness statements before the case starts, all of which had been done by EACC.