The government has reclaimed a 1.73-acre piece of land valued at Sh104 million that was unlawfully taken from Moi International Airport, following a court ruling that marked a major step in efforts to safeguard public property from illegal takeovers.

The Environment and Land Court in Mombasa ruled that the parcel, registered as MN/VI/3748 and forming part of a larger 538-acre block reserved for airport operations, remains public land and ordered that its title be revoked.

Justice Stephen Kibunja, who delivered the ruling on July 23, declared that the land had never been legally removed from public use and therefore could not be validly allocated to any private entity.

Investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission revealed serious irregularities in the land’s allocation.

The land, which belongs to the Kenya Airports Authority, was subdivided and transferred without a valid Physical Development Plan, lacked any formal application, and was not subjected to statutory fees , all clear breaches of land management laws.

The commission pointed to former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gacanja as a key player in the illegal allocation, accusing him of facilitating the subdivision and title issuance.

The case, which was first filed in 2009, ends a years-long legal process aimed at returning the land to public control. The reclaimed land will now be handed back to KAA for future aviation development.

“This recovery marks a significant milestone in the Commission’s ongoing efforts to protect public assets,” EACC said in a statement.

The agency also noted that 12 other parcels within the same 538-acre airport reserve — together valued at more than Sh2.5 billion,  remain under litigation due to suspected irregular acquisition.

The land sits in a high-value zone within Moi International Airport and is expected to support the facility’s expansion and infrastructure growth.

In a separate matter, EACC is also pursuing the recovery of a 3.44-acre plot in Eldoret, allegedly grabbed by a former Principal Secretary for Provincial Administration and National Security.

The land, valued at Sh200 million, had been reserved for government housing but was irregularly allocated to the former PS and a company associated with a former Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner.

A former Commissioner of Lands has again been named in this second case, with accusations of breaching statutory and fiduciary duties in what investigators describe as a wider scheme to transfer public land to private hands.