Thousands of acres of Prisons land have been illegally encroached, with part of it irregularly allocated to private individuals and other entities, it has emerged
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has revealed how the parcels, located in ten different correctional facilities were encroached, with the government now on the verge of losing the prized assets.
At the Shimo La Tewa prison for instance, 141 acres had been allocated to 77 private individuals without de-gazettement of the prison land.
At Nakuru Prison, the Auditor General found, 628 acres that were gazette and registered in 1961 were irregularly hived off and allocated to private developers.
Some of the developers are churches and other government institutions.
This is the same story at Narok Prison.
Here, the facility has gradually lost 64.8 acres to private developers.
These developers have already erected permanent buildings for commercial purposes.
“A borehole belonging to Narok Prison had been vandalized by private developers since the portion on which it occupied was allocated to a private developer, effectively disconnecting the water supply to the prison,” the report said.
Some 262 acres of Malindi Prison that are in two blocks had been encroached, with one block being occupied by “unknown number of illegal occupants”.
The auditor also established that the land hadn’t been surveyed and the two parcels were yet to be consolidated.
At Kisumu Medium Prison, 377 acres had been encroached by private developers.
Another four acres allocated to the facility in 1971 had also been divided into three plots and allocated to a church organization, a court and private developers.
The Kisumu encroachment, Gathungu said, is under investigation by the EACC.
The prison land, which is yet to be fenced, is also being claimed by the local community, who argue that it was their ancestral land, stolen from them by the colonial government.
And despite the land being surveyed, a title deed is yet to be issued and there is no wall, exposing it to encroachment and conflict with the local community.
The mess is also at Kapsabet Prison.
The prison was pushed out some acres of land by the Chief Conservator of Forests in 2005 acting on the Ndung’u Report.
The parcel was later subdivided and allocated to private individuals and other entities.
The prison is yet to get a title deed for the remaining piece of land.
Shikusa prison’s 765-acre land is also at risk of being lost following an ownership conflict between the correctional institution, the Kenya Forest Service and the local community.
KFS and locals claim the prison encroached into the forest and were seeking its relocation.
Despite the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee in May 2022 directing encroachers be evicted from 2,321 acres belonging to Kitale Prison, no such eviction has been undertaken, the Auditor General reported.
The Kitale land dispute has been contentious, with some 424 individuals — some high-ranking current and former politicians and military officers — and entities being accused of encroaching on the property.
At Thika prison, 86 acres had been encroached by unauthorized individuals, and at the time of the inspection, there were five active cases relating to ownership of two parcels of prison land.
The Report of the National Taskforce on Improvement of the Terms and Conditions of Service and other Reforms for Members of the National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service and National Youth Service made key proposals to protect Prison land.
The November 2023 report by retired CJ David Maraga recommended that the Commissioner General of Prisons should, within six months, appoint and facilitate a committee to carry out an inventory of all land belonging to Kenya Prisons Service and ensure titling.
The Maraga team in the report said relevant state agencies and institutions should provide requisite cooperation and facilitation to the committee.
“The KPS leadership should plan for the progressive securing of all the institution’s land through fencing. All court cases involving KPS land should be fast-tracked and any other disputes settled through the ADR [alternative dispute resolution] process,” the report saidThe committee called for measures to regularise KPS facilities constructed on contested or private land as well as waiver of stamp duty and other charges for speedier registration of titles for KPS land.
