Daring: Little known firm gets title deed for huge army land

How did a little-known entity, claiming to represent squatters, obtain a title deed to 4,000 acres of Kenya Defence Forces land in Uasin Gishu?

Who would have the temerity to grab land twice the size of the whole of Karura Forest that the armed forces use to train recruits and on which is built a factory to manufacture ammunition?

And if the military — which has tanks, guns, jet fighters, helicopter gunships and lots of bullets — can lose its land to grabbers, whose land is safe?

DOCUMENTS

These will be the questions going through the minds of Kenyans after it emerged that an entity called Leseru Tebeson Farmers Society has a title deed to army land.

The military is quite categorical that it has not surrendered any of its land to anyone and therefore the title deeds IR194659 for (LR No. 27206/3) and IR194660 (LR No. 27206/4) are “fraudulently issued”.

Yesterday, the Daily Nation learned that detectives from the Land Fraud Investigation Unit, headed by Kenya’s seasoned detective Geoffrey Kinyua, succeeded at the eleventh hour to seize vital documents and block the sub-division of the huge chunk of land.

INDIVIDUALS

Located just 20 kilometres outside Eldoret Town, the military land is designated as a buffer zone between the Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation (KOFC) and the public but has been at the centre of a push and pull between the military and squatters.

Land Registrar Betty Atieno issued the title to Leseru Tebeson Farmers Society in February, swiftly setting in motion plans to sub-divide the plot and dish it out to various individuals.

The lease document shows that the group was given a 99-year lease starting January 1, 2006 after paying Sh12.75 million in premiums. Leseru Teberon was to part with Sh318,860 annually in land rates.

REGISTRY

At 1.55pm on June 20, the Leseru Tebeson group presented to the land registry applications for sub-division of the property. The documents were received by registrars S.C. Njoroge and C.K. Nyakundi. Documents the group presented during its request for sub-division indicate that it is represented by Mr Wilson Too, Mr Charles Walekhwa and Mr Kiberen Arap Kisorio.

The move sparked protests from area MP Ms Janet Sitienei and the Ministry of Defence, who have both made attempts to stop the mysterious group from sharing the land.

GAZETTED

Last month, the Defence ministry invited the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti to investigate how fake title deeds were issued to individuals, yet the land was long ago gazetted for military use, Nation sources said.

The ministry, in its communication with the police, was categorical that it had not de-gazetted any of the land it was given for the KOFC and the Recruits Training School.

The land in Eldoret is just one in hundreds that the military has lost over the years. The Defence ministry, in a recent cry for help to the National Land Commission (NLC), estimated that 40,000 acres of its land have been grabbed.

SQUATTERS

The government acquired 16,277 acres in Eldoret between 1976 and 1980 for use by the KOFC and the Recruits Training School and paid full compensation to the original land owners. In 2002, retired President Moi ordered the Defence ministry to surrender 4,236.34 acres to squatters from two settlement schemes — Kamagut and Buheba.

However, some of the land was clearly grabbed and some squatters remained on military land.

Of the remaining land, the Moi Barracks got 6,288 acres, while the KOFC and Recruits Training School got 1,798.18 acres. The 4,000 acres was set aside as a buffer zone.

SENSITIVE

Such buffer zones are created to allow the military keep secret its sensitive security operations and tactics from potential threats, such as foreign spies.

The ministry pointed out that even after surrendering more than 4,000 acres for the resettlement of squatters, some individuals brazenly continued to encroach on military land. The military warns that encroachment on its land could pose a national security risk, as military zones are sensitive to Kenya’s safety.

Turbo MP Ms Janet Sitienei on September 3 wrote to Lands CS Farida Karoney warning that the Leseru Tebeson group intends to dish out sub-divided plots of land to individuals who are not currently on the land.

Ms Sitienei wanted the Lands ministry to stop all transactions involving the 4,000-acre plot, establish its exact location and verify who owns it to help avoid any crisis in future.

DISPOSSESSED

The Daily Nation has established that Ms Karoney instructed one of her juniors to dig into the matter on September 7. Six days later and three juniors down the line, the matter was referred to the National Titles Centre with a note reading “do not proceed until further communication.”

Reached late in the evening, Mr Kinoti said he will not comment on investigations but added “any land that may have been grabbed will be recovered even if it has changed hands 100 times”. He said police will work to recover all grabbed land, including that belonging to poor people. “Those dispossessed, those who can’t bribe or have no money, will get help,” he said.