EACC Recovers Islands Worth KSh 305 Million Grabbed In Kwale County

• EACC has announced that it has successfully recovered islands that had been grabbed from Kisite Mpunguti Marine Reserve in Kwale County
• The parcels of public land had been illegally taken over by three companies which amicably agreed to surrender ownership documents to Kenya Wildlife Service, the rightful owner
• Pwani Holdings Resort Limited, Bantus Investment Limited, and Pangos Limited are firms that agreed to surrender ownership documents to EACC

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has announced major milestones in its quest to recover stolen public property including grabbed land.

Kisite Mpunguti Marine Reserve

According to the commission, the gains have been made courtesy of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) avenues.

In a recent development, the EACC announced that it had successfully recovered land worth KSh 305 million that had been illegally annexed from a public parcel under the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Reserve in Kwale county.

The anti-graft agency indicated that the land which had been taken over by some private firms is a protected, reserved and gazetted area and are supposed to be under the management and conservation of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

Alternative Dispute Resolution

"The islands have been recovered through the Commission’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism which facilitates suspects in possession of public property to enter into negotiations with the commission on terms of voluntary surrender of the stolen property," read a statement by EACC.

The agency listed Pwani Holdings Resort Limited, Bantus Investment Limited, and Pangos Limited among the companies that had taken the parcels of lands.

"The companies have returned the original titles to the commission to facilitate cancellation and fresh registration under Kenya Wildlife Service," EACC stated.

EACC court cases

EACC went ahead to encourage individuals who are still holding public property to take advantage of the alternative dispute resolution approach to resolve ownership disputes with the State.

"The commission encourages all other persons illegally holding public property to take advantage of the ADR mechanism to resolve disputes as opposed to waiting for a lengthy and costly litigation process," the EACC explained.

This comes a few weeks after the EACC went to court to commence recovery of land worth KSh 2.4 billion grabbed from Moi International Airport in Mombasa county.