Road Reserve Adjacent to University of Nairobi, Mombasa Campus Recovered

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured the recovery of Mombasa Municipality Block XIX/305, a Ksh25 million public road reserve that serves as an access route to University of Nairobi, Mombasa Campus.

In a judgment delivered on September 24, 2026 in Mombasa (Case No. E049 of 2023), Justice Y. M. Angima of the Environment and Land Court found that the parcel formed part of a road reserve and had been illegally and fraudulently acquired in 1994.

The Court declared the lease and survey plan creating the parcel null and void, ordered the rectification of the relevant land and survey records, and permanently restrained further dealings with the property.

“Public officers and institutions entrusted with the management of public land (should) exercise their mandates within the law and uphold the public interest in the management and protection of public resources,” says EACC.

The suit arose from EACC investigations into the allocation of land reserved for public use. The investigations established that the road reserve had been unlawfully and irregularly excised from Machakos Road and allocated to the late Ezekiel Luyali, who was then a Councillor at the Municipal Council of Mombasa.

The investigations further established that the allocation was irregularly and unlawfully facilitated by David Kalume Randu and Ahmed Mwidhani, who served as Town Clerk and Mayor, respectively.

The alleged fraudulent allocation took effect from June 1, 1994 and culminated in the issuance of a lease dated 1st September 1994, which was registered on 2nd September 1994.

Court found that the legal process prescribed unde Local Government Act then in force for closing a road had not been followed. There was no evidence of:

1. Gazette notices announcing an intention to close the road;

2. A valid and approved Part Development Plan preceding the alienation;

3. A Council or committee resolution approving the allocation; or

4. Approval by the Minister for Local Government of the purported 99-year alienation with effect from 1stJune 1994.

The Court consequently held that the alienation of the property in 1994 was illegal and fraudulent and that EACC had adequately demonstrated its claim for recovery of the property and the consequential reliefs sought.

“The judgment affirms that public land reserved for public use must be managed strictly in accordance with the law and cannot be converted to private use through unlawful allocation,” EACC says.