The government has repossessed a prime piece of land worth more than Ksh.35 million in Bungoma Town after a successful court battle spearheaded by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
The contested property, located next to the Bungoma State Lodge in the Milimani area, had been illegally occupied by Judith Nekoye, a senior banking official who has since been evicted following a ruling by the Environment and Land Court.
In a judgment delivered on October 9, 2025, Justice Enock Cherono declared that all transactions leading to Nekoye’s acquisition of the land were “fraudulent, illegal, null and void ab initio.”
The court further directed the Bungoma Land Registrar to cancel all related entries and registration documents, restoring the property to the State Department for Housing and Urban Development.
“The registration of all the entries related to the issuance of the Certificate of Lease purported to have been issued on 24th October 2016 to the Plaintiff in respect of Bungoma Township/169 be hereby cancelled,” ruled Justice Cherono.
The ruling followed a case filed by the EACC, which proved that the land—initially reserved in 1961 for the construction of civil servants’ quarters—had been unlawfully transferred into private hands.
Court documents showed that the parcel, which hosted House No. HG/15, was part of government housing stock and was never available for sale or reallocation. Investigations revealed that Nekoye acquired it in 2016 through a series of fraudulent transactions beginning with an irregular allocation to Charles Osioma Nyasani, a former civil servant.
Justice Cherono noted that there was neither a valid Part Development Plan (PDP) nor an approved Registry Index Map (RIM) for the plot, rendering the lease procedurally defective.
“The allotment and subsequent lease were issued without lawful authority and are therefore null and void,” he stated.
Following the ruling, the court ordered Nekoye, her servants, and agents to vacate the property and permanently restrained them from trespassing or dealing with it in any way other than surrendering it to the government.
Bungoma County Commissioner Thomas Sankei confirmed on Thursday that security teams had enforced the eviction and the land had officially been taken back by the State.
It also emerged during proceedings that Nekoye had demolished a government house on the plot and built a multimillion-shilling maisonette, which now faces demolition as part of the recovery process.
EACC Head of Corporate Affairs and Communication Stephen Karuga said the Commission had lodged documents with the Land Registrar to cancel the previous registration and issue a new title in the government’s name, as directed by the court.
Civil society representatives led by Emmanuel Were praised the EACC for what they termed a “landmark victory” in protecting public assets from land grabbers.
“This ruling is a strong message to those who misuse their positions to take over public land. Milimani estate is government property and should be protected for public benefit,” said Were.
He further urged EACC to intensify investigations into other illegal allocations in Bungoma and neighbouring counties, citing rampant land grabbing of public spaces.
The reclaimed property has since been handed back to the State Department for Housing and Urban Development for public use.
