Court rules Survey boss unfit for job over Karen land scam
Tuesday March 16 2021
Summary
Justice Nelson Abuodha ruled that the Ministry of Lands erred in promoting Polly Wanjiku Gitimu alias Pauline despite the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) recommending charges against her for the fraudulent transfer of the 134-acre land.
The judge reckoned the questions over her integrity remained despite the fraud charges having been dropped on a technicality linked to the composition of the EACC board.
Ms Gitimu was among officials, including former Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu (now Kitui county governor), who had been charged with facilitating double allocations in the Sh8 billion Karen land, which is claimed by several people.
THE STANDARD By
Paul Ogemba |
March 16th 2021 at 00:00:00 GMT +0300
Judge Nelson Abuodha [PHOTO BY GEORGE NJUNGE]
A senior director of survey at the Ministry of Lands has been declared unfit to hold public office for engaging in land fraud.
Justice Nelson Abuodha ruled that it would be against the principles of good governance to allow Polly Wanjiku Gitimu alias Pauline to hold the position of director of surveys when her integrity had been questioned, with mentions of fraudulent transfer of the 134-acre land in Karen, Nairobi County.
“Since there are unresolved issues on her involvement in fraud relating to land transfers, she is unfit to hold the position of director of surveys in any capacity. To ignore such serious allegations and allow her to hold the position will be against Chapter 6 of the Constitution,” ruled Justice Abuodha.