Govt Official Busted Demanding Ksh148K To Release 74 Title Deeds

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) announced on Saturday, December 2 the arrest of a government officer working at the Kisamis Land Office in Kajiado West who was demanding bribes in exchange for the release of 74 title deeds.

According to EACC, Sheila Nandako, the Deputy Land Registrar, was arrested together with her accomplice, an officer working under her by the name of Washington Wahome.

The two demanded a bribe of Ksh148,000 from the complainant to release the 74 title deeds held by her office without any lawful justification.

They were processed at Integrity Centre Police Station on Thursday, November 30 and later booked at Kilimani Police Station pending further action.

"The Kajiado Lands Office is among those with many complaints of corruption in land transactions. In the instant case, the Deputy Land Registrar has allegedly directly and indirectly through the named officer been extorting money from citizens seeking facilitation of land transactions," stated EACC in part.

The arrest of the two land officials is part of ongoing operations by the Commission across the country to tame and disrupt corruption at service delivery points where citizens seeking services are routinely subjected to extortion by corrupt public officials. 

EACC noted that corruption at service delivery points hurts ordinary citizens daily and leads to denial or inordinate delay of services.

Members of the public with reports of suspected corruption by any state or public official were thus encouraged to share the same with EACC for action per the law through the toll-free number 1551.

Alternatively, aggrieved members of the public can report corruption cases through email address [email protected]

On Tuesday, November 21, EACC announced the recovery of three prime public pieces of land in Mombasa County which were grabbed by wealthy developers encroaching on three estates in the Buxton, Nyali and Shanzu areas.

On October 25, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations' (DCI) Land Fraud arraigned two lands officials in court who were charged with fraud in a Ksh4 billion land deal in Kwale County.

The duo, among them the Deputy Director for Land Administration Salesio Kaburu Jacob, was arraigned at the Kwale Law Courts. Kaburu was reported to be implicated in the Ksh4 billion land tussle between the county government of Kwale and Lunga Lunga Ranching Company Ltd.

Kaburu and Kamathi when they appeared in court in Kwale on October 25, 2023. /DCI