- The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has recovered public land valued at Ksh12 million in Karatina, Nyeri County.
- The 0.074-acre parcel had been reserved for police housing at Karatina Police Station.
- The land was surrendered following a consent recorded at the Environment and Land Court in Nyeri.
- Investigations showed the property was irregularly subdivided and allocated in 1998.
- The Commission has encouraged voluntary surrender of grabbed public land through its ADR framework.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has successfully recovered a piece of public land in Karatina that had been unlawfully allocated more than two decades ago.
The parcel, identified as Karatina Municipality/Block II/383, measures 0.074 acres and is valued at Ksh12 million. It had originally been set aside for police housing linked to Karatina Police Station in Nyeri County.
On February 17, 2026, Justice Evans Makori of the Environment and Land Court in Nyeri adopted a consent between the Commission and the registered owner, Peter Thinwa Ngari. The court directed that the Certificate of Lease be surrendered to the Government without any conditions attached.
According to the Commission, the case dates back to 2013 when it filed a suit seeking recovery of the property. The matter was registered as Nyeri ELC No. 92 of 2013.
Investigations revealed that the land had been earmarked for police housing before a survey conducted in 1998 altered its status. The survey carved out part of the property and created two separate development plans — one for a residential plot and another for the existing police station.
The excised portion was later allocated to Joseph Mithamo Wachira. On July 19, 2001, the land was transferred to Peter Thinwa Ngari.
Further findings indicated that the subdivision and allocation were carried out irregularly. At the time, the land had already been designated as Government property and was not available for private ownership.
The Commission stated that the process involved Johnson Muriuki Ruthuthi, who then served as Provincial Physical Planner in the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, and Wilson Gachanja, the then Commissioner of Lands.
Their actions led to the allocation of land that was legally reserved for public use.
With the court’s adoption of the consent, the long-running dispute has officially come to an end after 13 years.
The recovery clears the way for the land to be used for its intended purpose — development of police housing facilities in Karatina.
Following the ruling, the Commission urged individuals holding Government land irregularly to consider returning such property voluntarily.
The agency encouraged the use of its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework as a faster and cooperative way of restoring grabbed public assets to the State.
The latest recovery marks another step in efforts to protect public resources and ensure that land set aside for essential services benefits citizens as planned.
