Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Sentenced to Three Years Over KSh1.3 Billion Land Fraud

A Milimani court sentenced former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Davis Nathan Chelogoi to three years’ imprisonment without a fine after finding him guilty of a land fraud involving property valued at approximately KSh1.3 billion.

The magistrate, Dolphina Alego, ordered custodial terms on six counts – two years on each of the first two counts, three years on each of counts three, four and five, and one year on the sixth – with all terms to run concurrently, making the longest period three years; another report said the conviction covered five counts, creating a discrepancy in the count total.

The court adopted the Victim Impact Assessment Report and informed the defence of a right to appeal within 14 days, while the prosecution highlighted that the complainants, who are elderly, have endured years of stress, financial strain and business losses since 2023, and urged compensation under the Victim Protection Act, the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

Chelogoi’s lawyer, Assah Kiprono, urged the magistrate to consider a non-custodial sentence, citing the 76-year-old’s widower status, documented cardiac complications, other age-related health challenges and his roughly 40 years of public service, noting that Chelogoi had attended every hearing, voluntarily surrendered his passport and that his grandchildren were present in court.

The dispute centres on an 18-acre parcel in Nairobi’s Loresho area (also described as Lower Kabete), whose ownership was upheld by the Environment and Land Court in 2022 and affirmed by the Court of Appeal; Chelogoi claimed the land was allocated to him by former President Daniel arap Moi in January 1995 for KSh2.48 million and that a title deed was issued on June 4, 2021, but the magistrate found no documentary evidence to substantiate the allocation, and Land Registrar Pauline Achieng testified that signatures and stamp impressions on the title documents were not genuine, with inconsistencies in registry tracking numbers and missing historical survey records.

Former lands official Andrew Kirungu, who argued his role was limited to administrative processing, was acquitted, and the magistrate observed that correspondence and files inside the Ministry of Lands were either missing or destroyed, raising reasonable doubt about Kirungu’s knowledge of competing ownership claims.

The defence also pointed to a separate case, ELC Case No. E070 of 2023, pending before Justice Kulo, as the appropriate forum for determining ownership and compensation, while challenging allegations of intimidation contained in the probation report as unproved.