Ex-Lands commissioner Wilson Gachanja arrested over sale of public land

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has arrested former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja  for aiding the illegal acquisition of public land by private developers in Kwale County.

Mr Gachanja was arrested on Monday alongside former senior lands officer in charge of the defunct Coast Province Zablon Mabeya and former physical planner in the Ministry of Lands Mr Jabu Salim Mohamed.

EACC said that the public land in question is a public access road — Kwale Diani/Beach Block/1072 — valued at Sh30 million.

The arrested suspects will be arraigned in a Mombasa court on Tuesday.

Confirming the arrests, EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak said that two of the arrested land officials have been prominently mentioned in most of the pleadings filed in court seeking the recovery of illegally acquired public land.

“In addition to tracing and recovering public land that was illegally allocated to private developers, EACC seeks to hold all the public officials involved to account. Public officials hold office to serve public interest and as such, they should at all times desist from breaching the trust vested in them,” said Mr Mbarak.