Mutua names Kalonzo in 4,000ha Machakos public land grab claim

Governor Alfred Mutua has named former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Mavoko MP Patrick Makau and an unnamed senator as among private individuals who are alleged to have grabbed public land in Machakos County.

The county chief alleged that Mr Musyoka, who is a Cord co-principal, irregularly and illegally influenced the allocation to himself 4,000 hectares of land in Mavoko Municipality during his time as vice-president.

Dr Mutua said the unnamed senator owns 360 Degrees Apartments in Mavoko, which has been built on riparian land.

The governor also claimed Mr Musyoka was bribed with Sh350 million as part of the deal to join the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord), money that was delivered through Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama.

Dr Mutua tabled a list of alleged land grabbers before the Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee (PAIC) fulfilling a directive by the House team that he names alleged land grabbers who benefited from public utilities.

On Monday, the PAIC chaired by Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o had ordered Dr Mutua to table a dossier on alleged land grabbing in his county after the governor claimed that prominent politicians had benefited from public utilities.

Dr Mutua had appealed to the Senate to help his government in recovering assets, including public land that had been grabbed by the national government and private developers.

On Wednesday, Dr Mutua tabled a letter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), National Land Commission (NLC) and the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) dated February 24, 2015 that was authored by law firm Ndegwa & Ndegwa Associates, seeking investigations into the alleged land grabbing.

The governor said the three institutions are pivotal in instilling the culture of accountability including correcting historical injustices.

“It is for this reason that we write for you to immediately investigate and bring to book Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka for the reasons…that using his position as vice- president, he illegally and irregularly influenced the allocation to himself and through proxies of the following parcels of land in complete disregard of existing regime on conduct of public officers,” Ndegwa & Ndegwa Associates said in a letter to the three State agencies and copied to Dr Mutua.

The governor, through his lawyers named land LR No.22278 and LR 13409 in Mavoko, Machakos in the name of Desiral Limited, a company believed to be registered in Mr Musyoka’s name and that of his spouse, Ms Pauline Kalonzo.

He also listed land LR No 201185 and IR No 67338, a parcel of 4,000 hectares in Mavoko as belonging to Mr Musyoka.