The National Land Commission has established that Deputy President William Ruto’s Weston Hotel is built on public land but will not order it to be demolished.
In a decision causing a storm between the NLC and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, the commission wants Ruto compelled to pay for the 0.773ha plot opposite Wilson Airport at the current market rate. Last year it was valued at Sh300 million.
But KCAA, which is Kenya’s air travel regulator, insists the four-star hotel should be torn down because it is compromising safety.
The authority says buildings near the airport should not be higher than two storeys but the Weston has five floors.
Ruto also failed to secure necessary approvals from KCAA.
It had wanted to build its headquarters there.
KCAA Corporation secretary Cyril Wayong’o confirmed to the Star that NLC had recommended that it be compensated.
He protested against the NLC decision, saying it will entrench impunity and revealed that the parastatal’s board of management will sit and consider an appeal.
“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,” he said.
The NLC conclusion that the parcel is public land is likely to put Ruto on the spot following years of denial and statements that he acquired the property legally.
In 2013, the High Court ordered Ruto to surrender a 100-acre farm in the Rift Valley and pay Sh5 million as compensation to the rightful owner, Adrian Muteshi.
During the Weston probe, Ruto’s lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi told NLC commissioners that the defunct Directorate of Civil Aviation had been given alternative land.
However, he could not pinpoint the location of the two alternative parcels or give their reference numbers.
Abdullahi said the DP acquired the land in 2007 for Sh10 million from Priority Management Ltd and Monene Investments Limited
Before the NLC took over investigations on the Weston Hotel land, President Uhuru Kenyatta had ordered relentless demolition of structures built either on road reserves or riparian land.
Among the towering structures that were brought down were the Taj Mall, Ukay Centre and South End Mall.
Land sector players blamed the NLC for applying double standards in its policy directions.
“There are a lot of reservations about the operations of the National Land Commission and how commissioners have been handling matters before them,” complained Odenda Lumumba, chairman of the Kenya Land Alliance.
“If you are saying you are recovering public land regardless of the development on it, this land would not be an exception.”
Yesterday, Wayong’o said Constitution Article 40(6) on the right to property does not extend to property found to have been unlawfully acquired.
“Therefore, if the commission makes a finding that that property was unlawfully acquired, it does not matter who has it. Protection does not extend there. So anybody who has acquired public property unlawfully does not have the protection of the Constitution to own,” he said.
According to the NLC report which the commission is yet to release to the public, fresh valuation will have to be carried out to determine the current value of the land.
Yesterday, the NLC was drafting forward letters for the parties involved and they are to be delivered to them with the report
The source said the commissioners who were holed up at their Bishop Annex offices also took into account the fact that the hotel took a Sh1.2 billion loan from KCB.
The Kenyan government has majority stake in KCB.
During the hearing, KCB lawyer Martin Muge pleaded with NLC not to revoke, the title saying any move will have ramifications for the interests of the bank.
Present during deliberations on Monday were NLC vice chairperson Abigael Mukolwe, commissioners Abdulkadir Khalif, Clement Lenachuru, Emma Njogu, Rose Musyoka and Samuel Tororei.
The 0.773ha plot L.R. No. 209/14372 opposite Wilson Airport on Langata Road was formerly the site of the KCAA central stores.