BY SAM ALFAN.
Former commissioner of lands Wilson Gachanja and two other senior officials at the ministry of lands have been acquitted of charges of aiding illegal acquisition of public land in Kwale.
Gachanja had been charged alongside Jabu Salim Mohamed (District Physical Planner) and former commissioner Zablon Agwata Mabea with aiding former MP Boy Juma Boy acquire the parcel valued at Sh30 million.
Mabea who was represented by the veteran lawyer Philip Nyachoti was accused of preparing a letter of allotment in favour of Boy over a beach access road.
The former officials were freed after Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku ruled that there was insufficient evidence to put them on their defence.
“The court finds that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of aiding and abetting against the accused persons as no evidence was availed to show collusion between the accused persons and Boy Juma Boy,” the magistrate ruled
The court said some of the witnesses, testified that the process, from development of the PDP, issuance of the allotment letter and finally the certificate of lease, has multiple participants including the various government agencies.
The three had been charged with using their positions to aid an illegal acquisition of public land by private developers.
The charge sheet stated that the three assisted in grabbing a public access road, an offence they allegedly committed on June 23, 1994, and August 10, 1994.
The prosecution called a total of 10 witnesses who testified in the case.
Magistrate Mutuku ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them noting that the trio acted in their respective capacity in relation to the subject property and Boy Juma Boy and not Galerius Investments Limited.
The Magistrate further noted that the letter of allotment had special conditions, which prohibited the allottee, in the case, Boy Juma from selling or transferring the property without prior consent of the Commissioner of Lands.
She said the evidence was corroborated by the prosecution witness.
The magistrate noted that Mabea tried to remedy the mistake when he discovered it was a road reserve by cancelling the allocation.
She further noted that Mabea also requested that a restriction be placed against the property by the District Land Registrar.
This was meant to limit transactions on the property and the evidence was corroborated by two prosecution witnesses in their testimonies.
The court said Mabea’s action of trying to rectify the error that occurred during the allotment process is not indicative of a collusion which is the key ingredient of aiding and abetting.
The Magistrate ruled that the evidence adduced by the prosecution was unyielding and therefore acquitted the trio on all counts.
Defense led by lawyer Nyachoti had put spirited defense to secure their clients freedom.
