Former Lands Minister Amos Kimunya has been cleared of corruption-related charges after a Milimani court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove claims tied to the alleged illegal transfer of 25 acres of public land in Nyandarua to a private company.
In a judgment delivered on May 6, 2026, Magistrate Harrison Barasa ruled that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient evidence linking Kimunya to wrongdoing in the disputed Nyandarua land transaction.
“There are several gaps in the investigations and therefore I found the prosecution’s arguments built on weak grounds”,said Magistrate Harrison Barasa.
Two other accused persons, including the former Director of Land Adjudication, were also acquitted.
The case centred on allegations that Kimunya, while serving as Lands Minister in June 2005, irregularly allocated a 25-acre parcel of public land valued at Ksh60 million to a company in which he was allegedly a director and shareholder.
Kimunya and his co-accused were first charged in March 2014 before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on counts including abuse of office and fraudulent disposal of public property.
In May 2020, the magistrate’s court acquitted the trio after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
However, the case was revived in October 2022 after the High Court overturned the acquittal following an appeal by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and ordered a retrial.
The matter continued in court until the latest ruling, which brought the long-running legal battle to an end.
Court proceedings faced repeated delays over the years, partly due to the late presentation of witnesses and documents from the Ministry of Agriculture during scheduled hearings.
The case was also prolonged after defence lawyers proposed out-of-court settlements that were rejected by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the ODPP.
With the acquittal, Kimunya and his co-accused walk free after years of legal uncertainty surrounding the controversial land allocation case.
