EACC recovers two grabbed public properties in Mombasa, Kwale valued at Ksh.100M

Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have recovered two public properties in Mombasa and Kwale counties worth an estimated Ksh.100 million after securing favourable judgments from the Environment and Land Court.

The anti-graft agency said the court nullified the irregular allocation of a government house in Kizingo, Mombasa, valued at Ksh.55 million, and a public beach access road reserve in Diani, Kwale, worth Ksh.45 million.

In the two separate rulings delivered this month, the courts also found that former public officials who facilitated the illegal allocation of the properties were liable for misfeasance in public office, holding that they acted in bad faith and outside the powers granted to them under the law.

The courts further awarded EACC a total of Ksh.20 million in damages for trespass and prolonged interference with public access to the properties, with the defendants also ordered to bear the costs of the suits.

According to investigations by the commission, the government house in Kizingo had been fraudulently allocated to a former Senior Resident Magistrate through a 99-year lease issued in 1998.

In its judgment delivered on July 17, 2026, the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa declared the lease and certificate of lease illegal, null and void, ordered their cancellation and permanently barred the defendants from dealing with the property.

In the second case, the court ruled that a 1.14-acre parcel of land reserved as a public access road linking Ukunda-Diani Road to the Indian Ocean had been unlawfully allocated to a private company through a 99-year lease issued in 1994.

The Environment and Land Court in Kwale, in its July 14, 2026 judgment, cancelled the lease and all related land records, restoring the land to public ownership.

EACC said the rulings reinforce efforts to reclaim illegally acquired public assets and establish an important legal precedent by holding public officers personally accountable for facilitating the unlawful alienation of public property.

The commission noted that it has recovered public assets worth more than Ksh.1.16 billion across the Coast region over the past three years, including land belonging to the Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Railways Corporation, Kenya Meat Commission and the County Government of Mombasa.