Nairobi County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has launched investigations into the ownership of Sh150 million piece of land in Umoja amid claims that some police officers were acting on fake documents to allow another businessman begin construction at the site.
The DCI is also investigating claims of forgery after the acting Director of Survey Polly Gitimu disowned documents presented to the Buruburu police, saying they did not exist in their records.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Land Registrar and dated August 7, 2020, Ms Gitimu wrote: “This is to bring to your attention that Nairobi block 166 and Nairobi block 107/1/1118-1134 RIM purportedly procured from Survey of Kenya do not exist in our records and are fictitious and fraudulent.”
The probe was launched after a Nairobi businessman, Peter Muhia, wrote to the Nairobi DCI boss, Benard Nyakwaka, claiming that police were offering protection to illegal owners who had started construction on his piece of land.
He had earlier on December 7, reported the matter to the police.
“From the above-mentioned date no investigations and or actions have been undertaken on the same to investigate and arrest the trespassers who have no justifiable legal claim over the parcel. Our client would like to urgently reclaim their property for personal use,” his lawyer wrote to the DCI.
Businessman Muhia and his lawyer, Melba Katindi, had challenged the investigative authorities to interrogate the documents and take action against those found to have allegedly forged ownership documents.
“My efforts to seek justice from the police have been met with deaf ears. I am told some local administrator allowed them to go to the site and is providing security for them to continue with illegal activities,” said Muhia.
In the recent past, some senior officers have been accused of working closely with land cartels especially in Nairobi and its environs.
A confidential report by the National Police Service has identified several officers who collude with fraudsters to defraud Kenyans of their legally acquired pieces of land.
The report, following an internally commissioned probe, was submitted to Inspector-General Hillary Mutyambai in early November and is yet to be acted on.
At least three of the senior officers fingered in the report were transferred in the last few months.
The officers are said to be involved in dubious activities including forceful and violent evictions of landowners, destruction of private property, protection of criminal gangs and extortion, according to the report.
“Only those owners who pay ‘protection fee’ to prevent the destruction of their property or ‘approval fee’ to be allowed to build, amounting to hundreds of thousands of shillings are spared and allowed to continue with their planned constructions,” the report reads.
The officers are said to “turn a blind eye” on criminal activities as they profit from such.
