Untangling the web that is the Syokimau-Mlolongo land scam

Early last month, Kenyans were treated to television footage of heavy government construction equipment demolishing pricey houses in Syokimau.

The homes were knocked down as their owners watched in disbelief. Some fainted as the fruits of their labour were reduced to rubble.

“I hate this country,” a woman in her 50s cried in front of the camera. And that camera shot will be remembered long after the Syokimau mess has passed into history.

But the destruction in Syokimau was just a tip of the iceberg floating on the cesspool that is land transactions in the Athi River-Syokimau conurbation.

In the wake of the demolitions, a joint Parliamentary Select Committee was appointment to investigate the matter.

It tabled its report in Parliament recently and suggested that residents of Kyang’ombe, Mitumba, Maasai, Kiambiu, and Kitui villages of Nairobi be restituted and resettled.

The team, chaired by Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi, noted that the residents were evicted without prior notice despite acquiring titles that they believed were genuine.

But the team dealt Syokimau residents a blow by only asking the government “to consider” them, but the affected think that they should be fully compensated.

But, even as the government works on ways to help the victims, critics argue that the scandal that is Syokimau would have been avoided had State agents not chosen to play ball with crooks.

Correspondence shows that government officers sitting in security meetings chaired by district commissioners were made aware of the murky land dealings. The Office of the President was informed of the goings-on in Syokimau in March 2004.

Speaking in Parliament recently, Lands minister James Orengo said the decision to demolish the houses was reached by a Cabinet sub-committee chaired by President Kibaki. Among those who attended the meting were Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

In March 2004, an advocate of the High Court who was at the centre of a 120-acre land dispute in Mavoko Municipality, claiming that the land had been grabbed and turned into what is today Mlolongo trading centre, wrote to Mr John Githongo, then the permanent secretary in the Office of the President in charge of Ethics and Governance, demanding action against those who had encroached on the land.

In the letter, Mr Kiume Kioko wanted Mr Githongo to intervene as the police had failed to act against the invaders.

He wrote that, while government officers had recorded statements from all parties in the dispute, investigations had been stopped without any explanation in August 2003.

“The government... stated in its fight against corruption that there are no sacred cows. How come no police action has been taken against those already identified?” he asked.

The advocate claimed at the time that illegal occupiers “owners” in Mavoko included ministers, MPs, councillors, permanent secretaries, and other senior government officials whom he accused of defying a quit notice that expired on 5 March, 1993.

But Mr Kioko did not get a reply from Mr Githongo.

Government records show that in 1993, the then Machakos district commissioner, Mr Osman Warfa, ordered two land-buying company firms on the site — the Mlolongo Brothers Association and the Mavoko Municipality Quarry Self-Help Group — to be shut down.

But Mr Peter Mailu, a former mayor of Mavoko Municipality who was then chairman of the Mavoko Municipal Land Trust Self-Help, told the residents not to move out. Most of those occupying the land had settled there after paying Sh19,000 for a 50-by-100 plot.

Soon after, the owners of the plots, who were authorised to carry out quarrying activities there, placed a quit notice in the Daily Nation on 5 February, 2004.

It read in part: “Whoever allegedly bought plots in... Mlolongo... should have conducted a search at the Land Registry in Nairobi or Machakos to ascertain and confirm ownership of the said properties.”

The occupiers were given 30 days from the date of the notice to remove their structures, after which the owners would demolish the structures and charge the owners the cost of demolition.

But in a rejoinder, the land-buying company urged its clients to “treat the (quit) notice as alarmist and intended to arm-twist people.

We assure you that the matter will be appropriately addressed by our lawyers at an opportune time. Your plots are safe and we request you to ignore the tricksters and continue with your work”.

Mr Kioko’s biggest fear at the time was that many of those occupying the land had built houses and moved in while others had sold their plots.

Their appetite for the Mlolongo/Syokimau land had started after the Directorate of Civil Aviation objected to the quarrying business in the huge chunk of land that today forms the two sprawling estates, and so they moved in to build houses.

The argument tendered at the time was that blasting in the area, which is close to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, would be too dangerous for the aircraft landing or taking off.

At the time, the parcels were registered under three companies — Patel Concrete Limited, Bimji Ramji and Sons Ltd, and Diamond Quarry Ltd.

The owners of the land applied for a change of user licence to light industries and were granted permission by the Commissioner of Lands. They were issued with new title deeds in 2000.

The Mavoko Municipal Council, which had been pushing, through Mr Mailu to have the land allocated to area residents, got wind of this and urged the government to allow them to buy it.

Mr Mailu and other colleagues in the council approached then minister for Lands Gideon Ndambuki to organise negotiations through the land-buying company they had formed.

At about this time, some people invaded the land to stop the companies from developing it. As this was happening, the land was being sub-divided into more than 4,000 plots.

Mr Mailu said at the time that they managed to buy a company and were negotiating with the others on the mode of payment when the negotiations stalled in 2002 owing to that year’s General Election campaigns.

But, in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Kioko disputed this claim, saying the self-help group simply invaded the land after his clients started constructing sheds and workshops.

“They demolished the sheds, sub-divided the plots, and sold them to the public, claiming that the land belonged to the Mavoko Municipal Council,” he countered.

While the Mavoko Municipality Quarry Self-Help Group was responsible for the creation of the unplanned Mlolongo estate, Syokimau Brothers, whose officials also doubled up as members of the quarry self-help group, had their eyes fixed on Syokimau, then a marshy and uninhabited tract of land. The operations of the two groups had the backing of officials from the council.

Reacting to reports that he helped create the Mlolongo/Syokimau mess, a former Mavoko Municipal Council town clerk, Mr Tubman Otieno, currently the Mombasa Municipal Council town clerk, said he had nothing to do with the actions of the two groups.

Mr Otieno’s signature allowed the Syokimau Brothers to sub-divide the huge land into tiny parcels which were sold to the public.

Mr Otieno claimed that the group could have taken advantage of the fact that he was hardly a week old in his station when they brought him the letters to sign.

Mr Otieno said he was not around when the group got possession of the controversial land claimed by the Kenya Airports Authority in the early 2000.

“I was hardly two weeks old at the Mavoko Municipal Council when they brought the papers with their request. I saw the transaction as a genuine concern because, while handing over to me, my predecessor had not told me that something was amiss in relation to land in Athi River,” Mr Otieno said. “I only came to learn of the mess during my familiarisation tours of the municipality.”

Mr Otieno described the Mlolongo allocations as “a big mess” as it was done without following proper procedures.

“I remember going to the University of Nairobi to look for a planner as the ministry could not provide one on short notice. The place was a complete mess and the assistance we got from the university helped us to plan Mlolongo,” he said.

As the saga unfolds, the government has been asked to investigate why the State terminated a case involving seven people charged in court for creating the land mess in Athi River.

Ms Wavinya Ndeti, as assistant minister for Youth and Sports, says there is more than meets the eye in the way the government has handled the Athi River land saga since 2004.

Investigations show that in 2004, at the height of land grabbing in the area that gave birth to Mlolongo and Syokimau estates, the State arrested seven people, including a one-time mayor and town clerk of Mavoko Municipal Council, for allegedly deceiving the public.

The seven were charged with fraudulently receiving more than Sh154 million from the public on the pretext that they could sell them land in Mlolongo.

Those arraigned in the Machakos Principal Magistrate’s court were former mayor Peter Mailu, Mr Mbote wa Githinji (then a councillor), and Mr Sammy Muindi, a former town clerk who faced the alternative charge of stealing Sh4,854,652 from a self-help group.

Others charged alongside the three were a civic leader at the time, Ms Mary Muinde, a former Machakos Democratic Party official, Mr Patrick Ndeti (now deceased), Mr Charles Mutisya, and Mr Sammy Kisangi. They all denied the charges.

However, as the case progressed, Machakos State Counsel Moses O’Mirera was directed to stop the trial and take the case file to the Attorney General in Nairobi. While in Nairobi, Mr O’Mirera was directed to terminate the case, effectively freeing the seven.

A prosecutor who handled the case at one stage said the move by the State stunned even the presiding magistrate.

“The evidence was tight but it appeared some bigwigs in government were involved in the whole mess in Athi River and they did not want their actions to be scrutinised,” he said.

“The government cannot cite ignorance when evidence shows that its agents acted as double-dealers in the whole fiasco,” says Ms Ndeti.

A task force whose main duty was to look into the land issue in Athi River presented its report to Internal Security minister George Saitoti about a fortnight ago.

The commission, led by Mr John Abduba, described the situation in the area as “rotten”.

Prof Saitoti promised to deal firmly with all those who have been named as having contributed to the mess.