EACC recovers Ksh. 25M road reserve in Mombasa

The property, known as Mombasa Municipality/Block XIX/305, is located along Machakos Road and serves as an access route to the University of Nairobi Mombasa Campus.

The recovery follows a judgment delivered by the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa on September 24, 2026, which declared the lease and survey records creating the parcel null and void.

In the case, the court found that the property formed part of a road reserve that had been illegally and fraudulently alienated in 1994.

The suit followed EACC investigations into the allocation of land reserved for public use. The Commission established that the road reserve had been excised from Machakos Road and allocated to the late Ezekiel Luyali, who was then a councillor at the Municipal Council of Mombasa.

The investigations also linked the allocation to David Kalume Randu, who was the Town Clerk, and Ahmed Mwidhani, who was the Mayor of Mombasa at the time.

According to EACC, the allocation took effect on June 1, 1994, and resulted in the issuance of a 99-year lease dated September 1, 1994, which was registered the following day.

The court found that the legal process required at the time for closing a road had not been followed.

The court noted that there was no evidence of a Gazette notice announcing the intention to close the road, an approved Part Development Plan preceding the alienation, a council or committee resolution approving the allocation, or approval by the then Minister for Local Government for the 99-year lease.

The court consequently declared the lease null and void and ordered the Chief Land Registrar to cancel the related entries.

It also declared Survey Plan Folio Register No. 264/37, which created the parcel, null and void and directed the Director of Surveys to cancel and expunge it.

The court further issued a permanent injunction barring the property's beneficiary, his agents or assigns from selling, leasing, transferring, charging or otherwise dealing with the property.

The judgment effectively restored the property as a public road reserve and bars further private dealings with it.