Former Minister Sam Ongeri wins land case against EACC

The Lands Court has dismissed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)’s bid to force former Minister Prof Sam Ongeri to surrender an alleged market property in Kisii, which it claimed was illegally acquired.

The anti-corruption watchdog sued Ongeri and former lands commissioner James Raymond Njenga, claiming that the property under his name was set aside for the Kisii Municipal Market.

However, Justice Munyo Sila, in his judgment, said there was no evidence to show that Njenga had acted fraudulently by allocating it to a former senior government official.

He observed that although EACC claimed that there were vegetable vendors on the plot, it did not prove that it was public.

“It was of course mentioned that the plot hosts vegetable vendors. I was not told when the vegetable vendors took possession, i.e whether before or after the allocation of the plot. The mere presence of vegetable vendors on a plot does not make it public land. The presence of the vegetable vendors is a problem for the first defendant (Ongeri) to deal with,” said Munyao.

EACC had filed two separate cases. However, the Judge ordered their consolidation.

In its case, it claimed that Ongeri got a lease on July 12, 1982, and indicated that the Gusii County Council had leased it to him for 99 years from March 1, 1982.

The anti-graft body argued that the title issued to him was bad.

According to the commission, 215.85 acres of land within Kisii Township were set aside as Trust Land, part of which was set aside to build a market.

 It claimed that the reserved land was fraudulently and unlawfully surveyed to create seven parcels of land, Kisii Municipality/Block 3/258, 259, 260, 261, 334, 376 and 418.

EACC told the court that on unknown dates, Njenga authorised a change of user from a municipal market to shops, offices, and flats without referring to the council.

At the same time, he allegedly illegally acted on behalf of the council by creating a lease instrument dated June 9, 1982, and registered the same a month later in favour of ONgeri.

In his reply, Ongeri told the court that he was a doctor, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, a Minister, an ambassador, and a Senator and had now retired into farming.

He said that in the 1980s, he applied to the Gusii County Council for land in block III/174, but was informed that it had been allocated to someone else.

According to the former minister, the council allocated him an alternative plot, which he paid for.

Ongeri provided correspondence between the council and the commissioner, along with the stamp duty he paid for them. Simultaneously, he informed the court that he had been paying land rent and rates to the council.

He asserted that he had paid all the requisite fees and did not know that EACC would drag him to court 30 years later.

Ongeri further testified that it was the only plot he owned in Kisii, and if he wanted to misuse his influence, he could have done so as he was Minister of Local Government between 1997 and 1999.

Njenga admitted that he was the commissioner of lands until 1989. He said that the right person who ought to have been sued was the Attorney General, not him in person.

However, he denied that the contested land had been reserved for public use. In the meantime, he also said that he could not recall its alienation or who owned it.

The former commissioner urged the court to dismiss the case and award him the costs.