The National Treasury has transferred 44 parcels of land to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), removing doubts over the ownership of the properties that lacked key legal documents.
The transferred parcels of land that host NCPB stores, are spread out across seven counties -- Kwale, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kajiado, Marsabit, Mandera, and Lodwar.
The Treasury said that it had exercised its powers as the legal owner of State corporations to assign the land parcels to NCPB, whose mandate is to trade commercially in agricultural commodities like grains and farm inputs.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, in her audit of NCPB's books for the financial year ending June 2023, had flagged lack of title deeds for land owned by the corporation.
NCPB valued its leasehold land at Sh5.5 billion, including 34 parcels for which title deeds were missing.
“As previously reported, the leasehold land includes 34 parcels that do not have title deeds. In addition, the leases for three plots had not been renewed, thus making a total of 37 properties valued at Sh581.3 million whose title documents were not in the custody of the board,” the auditor-general noted.
According to the audit, NCPB’s board lacked ownership documents for a parcel of land on which the Nakuru Cyprus Bins are located, despite the management noting that surveyors had established the issuance of the title deed by the land’s registry.
The audit found other anomalies in NCPB’s land ownership, including encroachments in Kisii, Kericho, Sagana, Narok, and Kapsabet.
“Although the board has title deeds for five parcels of land in Kisii County, which have been fenced and marked with the NCPB signpost, there was encroachment on all the parcels of land,” the audit added.
Other government parastatals and agencies were flagged by the audit as encroaching on NCPB land, with a parcel along the Kericho-Kisumu highway, for instance, being encroached upon by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).
NCPB is at fault for some of its doubtful land parcels such as land in Sagana, which has been encroached upon by commercial and residential structures, but lacked signposts indicating that the land belongs to the parastatal.
NCPB was also been flagged for failing to physically identify a piece of land in Narok, despite obtaining a restraining order on the parcel from the High Court in 2013.
The auditor-general also takes issue with the NCPB board's failure to follow up on a land dispute with the National Lands Commission (NLC).
“The board’s parcel of land measures 0.5 hectares, situated in Kapsabet Town and with a certificate of lease for 99 years starting from 1 July 1986, has been encroached and developed with a permanent commercial structure by a developer who claims ownership of the land.
"Although management indicated that they are following up the matter with the National Lands Commission, evidence of follow-up was not provided for audit review,” the auditor-general noted.
The NCPB valued its property, plant, and equipment at Sh17.5 billion in the year ended June 2023.
