Land official in court over bribery allegations

A National Land Commission official was on Tuesday arraigned before a Nakuru Court and charged with soliciting bribes.

Frank ole Kiberekenya, who is also the secretary of the Nakuru County Land Management Board, found himself on the receiving end of the law when he was accused of soliciting a bribe of Ksh 1.5 million to include names of eight people to the land register in the allocation  of land in Oljorai Settlement Scheme.

The accused was arrested by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives after a series of corruption and bribery allegations were reported by members of public.

The court heard that on May 15th at Midland Hotel within Nakuru County, the accused, who is a public officer at the lands office in Nakuru, received over Ksh 1 million from two parties who were interested in adding more people to share the said land.

The Nakuru Land Registry has in the past been accused of double allocation of land titles and forgery of documents.

Kiberekenya, who appeared before Chief Magistrate David Kemei, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Through his Lawyer Ochang Ajigo, he asked the court to release him on a reasonable bond since it is a bailable offence and that the accused is not a flight risk and will attend court if summoned.

The accused was released on a Ksh 500,000 bond with an alternative cash bail of Ksh 200,000 awaiting hearing of the matter on July 12th.

Report by Simon Ngure