Fraudsters have dispossessed legitimate land owners in Mavoko.
On the Nairobi-Machakos county border, in the Kamulu and Mavoko areas, several people are involved in land disputes, claiming that fraudsters have dispossessed legitimate land owners.
Those affected include the who-is-who in the country, with others having records of holding very powerful positions in their lifetimes.
They include Mr John Makenzi, who was President William Ruto's principal at Kapsabet Boys' High School, retired judge Tom Mbaluto, former Chief Justice David Maraga and Mr Sam Kioko, a former Daima Bank chief executive.
Others are former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth, former Nyeri senator Ephraim Maina and businessman Jimnah Mbaru.
In an earlier interview, Mr Makenzi and retired judge Tom Mbaluto said access to their land in the Kamulu area had become futile as gangs had taken over and were fraudulently selling the plots to unsuspecting Kenyans.
Mr Makenzi owns five acres of land which he is unable to access and which has already been fenced off and even threatened over the phone never to be claimed.
As for retired judge Mbaluto, he has sued the gangs and won all his cases, but he still cannot access the land he legally owns. He even has court orders, but the police have failed to enforce them.
As a result of persistent complaints that police officers were unwilling to assist the rightful owners of the land to reclaim their land, the Interior ministry informed the Inspector General of Police, Japheth Koome, of eight officers who were colluding with fraudsters and fuelling insecurity in the area.
In a letter dated June 13, 2023 and entitled 'Land Matters in Machakos County', the ministry named the eight allegedly rogue officers and recommended that they be transferred.
Mr Koome was then asked to ensure that officers who were firm and solid were deployed to deal with land security issues in Mavoko. Only six officers were transferred when houses were demolished on the Portland land.
Last week, three more alleged fraudsters linked to Ganana Developers were arraigned in court and charged with defrauding a farmers' association of 141 hectares of land valued at Sh3.4 billion.
They are; Mr Mohamed Kuroyow Mohamed, Mr Mohamed Salat Ibrahim and Mr Adow Ahmed Mohamed were granted bail in the sum of Sh10 million with one surety each in the sum of Sh5 million with one surety each.
The fourth accused, known as Mr Omar Kalif Adan, did not appear in court as he is in hospital.
They are accused of defrauding Drumvale Farmers' Cooperative Society of its land IR 237120 LR8529/10 original number8529/11 measuring approximately 141.5 hectares valued at Sh3.4 billion.
The farm is located in Mavoko sub-county within Machakos County. Ganana Developers Limited was incorporated in September 2018. Its plot number is 8529/10.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki heard that the land is owned by Drumvale Farmer's Cooperative Society.
Mr Kuroyow, Mr Salat, Mr Khalif and Mr Adow were charged with a second count of fraudulently obtaining a lease of the land in question, which is owned by Drumvale Farmer's Cooperative Society.
The four, the magistrate heard, had forcibly occupied the farmer's land on various dates between August 5, 2018 and June 22, 2022.
Mr Ondieki heard that the accused's claim to ownership of the land was likely to cause a breach of the peace as they were not the true owners of the land in dispute.
It is worth noting that despite several complaints and reports against the four at various stations, police officers never arrested them until three weeks ago when they were summoned by officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu Road.
A source privy to the ongoing investigations told the Nation that more groups linked to the scam in the area were being investigated.
"More groups that acquired questionable title deeds are being investigated on the matter," said the officer who spoke in confidence as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The Nation contacted another group led by one Hussein Dabaso, who was not available on the phone, but his co-accused spoke and gave their side of the story. However, he is expected to appear today before DCI officers investigating the matter at the Kiambu Road headquarters.
Mr Ahmed Omar, said he was not aware of any land in Mavoko sub-county and had nothing to do with it.
"I am not aware of any such land and have never had anything to do with it," he said.
Another, Mr Hussein Abdi Dakane, asked us to contact all his co-defendants and get back to him.
Another group, said to be occupying land number 7283/1 and working with gangs led by a bishop, said they were not aware of the matter.
The other occupies plot number 8529/1 and has never responded to our enquiries.
Officials released
In the same region, officials of a real estate company accused of defrauding a company of an estimated Sh14 billion worth of land have been released on bail.
Since the forced eviction of people from the East African Portland Cement (EAPC) land, in which many lost billions, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been conducting a series of investigations into similar crimes in Nairobi and Machakos counties.
The three officials were released on Sh2 million cash bail a week ago by the Milimani Magistrate's Court.
Mr Julius Mutie Mutua, Mr Alex Kyalo and Mr Pascal Kiseli, who are the senior officials of the Aimi Ma Lukenya Society (AMLS), were released on Sh3 million bail or alternative cash bail of Sh2 million each.
