This archive report was first published on 5 August 2020.
On August 5, 2020, investigations by Weekly Citizen revealed a shocking land scam in Kisii county, where top officials, an MCA, and officials from the ministry of Lands conspired to defraud the public of Sh20 million.
According to the investigation, the county administration spent only Sh15 million on a 20-acre piece of land in Nyatieko sublocation, which is the subject of an ownership dispute. However, county officials inflated the land price rate by more than 50%, billing the taxpayer Sh34 million as the actual cost of the disputed property.
Richard Onyonka, the Kitutu Chache South MP, was allegedly compromised in the deal, despite initially standing by his people to resist the county's decision to take the dumpsite and public cemetery project to Nyatieko. Onyonka's change of heart has left residents questioning his motives.
Patrick Lumumba, the county 'chief secretary', devised a scheme to silence the villagers by buying off Onyonka. The deal involved county treasury officials exaggerating the total cost of the land from Sh15 million to Sh34 million. The team also detailed the land registrar, Stephen Mokaya, and the county surveyor, Ben Ogechi, to assist in record-tampering to disadvantage the other claimant on the land.
Kitutu Chache South residents have expressed outrage over the scandal, with Nyagami Gai, a representative of one of the families involved, denying press reports that his family received Sh34 million for the land. Gai threatened to return the money if the county government does not clarify the figure.
