Deputy President William Ruto may have escaped sany but will have to dig deeper in to his pocket to pay Ksh Sh350 million for the land on which his Weston Hotel stands following recommendations by the National Land Commission.
However the NCL will take a fresh value of the land before a final figure is sent to the DP for settlement
According to the professional land valuer, Mr Waweru Maina,“The principal that applies is that the bigger the land, the lesser the value, If an eighth acre goes for Sh1 million, an acre will not be Sh8 million, but less. Therefore, an acre in that area costs Sh220 million, then 1.7 acres will cost roughly Sh350 million.”
Reports indicate that the DP is ready to pay whatever penalties will be imposed on him so that he finishes with this issue once and for all.
However all is not well as the complainant the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) could appeal NLC’s decision. This can only take place in a full court hearing.
According to the KCAA lawyer Cyril Wayong’o, “It will mean going forward that somebody can just grab public land and allege that he or she is an innocent purchaser, and thereafter decide to compensate, which is wrong.”
NLC vice chairperson Abigael Mbagaya, has recommended that Weston Hotel pay the current market price for the land to KCAA so as to enable it purchase land of equal value and for NLC to regularise the title to Weston.
However, Ms Mbagaya noted that the process of allocation to Priority and Monene — who sold the land to Weston — “may have not followed due process, but no documents were apparently forged.”
But she said that the land “was terribly under-valued” by the time it was allocated to Priority Ltd and Monene Investment for Sh409,290 as statutory fees in 2002.
In 2007, the two firms sold the land to Weston Hotels Ltd for Sh10 million.