Former lands boss Mwaita to release government house

A judge has ordered that a house in Mombasa, which former commissioner of lands Sammy Mwaita allocated to his company revert to the government.

Justice Sila Munyao said the allocation of the house in Bamburi to Lekyo Tours Ltd, a company where Mr Mwaita was a director, was irregular.

He ordered the lands registrar to cancel the title. "So that no member of the public is duped to deal with the suit land, I do order that the cancellation of the title to be advertised in the Kenya Gazette,” the Judge said.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case in April 2014, arguing that the house in Bamburi belonged to the government, having been built in 1979 to house civil servants.

But in March 1998, Mr Mwaita, then the Commissioner of Lands, issued a letter of allotment to the company. The anti-graft body accused Mr Mwaita of conferring a benefit on himself because he was a director of the company. The EACC #ticker:PORT also argued that the land was not available for allocation because it was housing government employees.

Mr Mwaita had denied abusing his powers but did not defend the case when the matter came up for hearing.

The court heard that no consent was issued from the Ministry of Lands transferring the land to the company. According to the EACC, for such a transfer to happen, a committee had to recommend the allocation to the permanent secretary.

The property would then be valued but in the case, the procedure was not followed because there are no records.

“I am thus persuaded that the plaintiff (EACC) has proved its case on a balance of probabilities and deserving of the orders sought,” the judge ruled.

The judge issued a permanent injunction restraining Mr Mwaita and the company.