EACC Set to Recover Public School Land Grabbed by the SDA, in Homa Bay

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has reclaimed 26 acres of land belonging to the Nyabola Girls Secondary School in the Kasipul constituency. The church officials are accused of grabbing public land in West Kasipul, Rachuonyo South, and turning it into private property.

The Kenya Times has learnt that according to the EACC, the land belongs to the 1968-established public school Nyabola Girls Secondary School.

In 1968, the Nyabola Girls Secondary School opened as a public institution. According to reports, the church converted it into a private institution and renamed it Nyabola SDA Secondary School.

Kipsang Sambai, superintendent of the EACC in South Nyanza, stated that the institution is situated on public land, as indicated by Lands office records. He summoned Homa Bay Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church officials to explain how the church acquired 26 acres of government-owned property.

“We have convened church officials to demonstrate how they acquired the land and their ownership interest in the property. We want to determine how private property is situated on public land” – Sambai

The EACC anticipates that church officials will provide evidence of land ownership.

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On Friday, EACC officials supervised a team of surveyors from Rachuonyo South as they tried to determine the site’s boundaries. Land Registrar’s office officials were also present at the site.

The parcel of land is registered with the defunct South Nyanza Council and designated for Nyabola Girls Secondary School, according to EACC.

According to the EACC, members of the Kenya Lake Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists of the South Kenya Lake Field Area fraudulently acquired the aforementioned land, converted it to their own use, and constructed an SDA church building and other private housing developments, including a boarding school and residential houses.

This is part of the anti-corruption agency’s effort to reclaim public property illegally acquired by private individuals and organizations’.

Sambai stated, “We are conducting investigations to recover illegally acquired public assets.”