On Thursday, July 19, 2018, detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) raided the home of businessman Francis Mburu – the man at the centre of the Ruaraka Land saga. Investigators are said to have seized computers and documents they believe will aid in probing the Ksh.1.5 billion scam involving a 13-acre piece on which Ruaraka and Drive-Inn Primary schools sit.
Mr. Mburu, a well-connected tycoon, was allegedly paid Ksh.1.5 billion by the government for acquisition of the land yet it is claimed to be public land, simply implying that the government spent billions of taxpayers’ money to buy its own land. Out of the Ksh.3.2 billion he was supposed to be paid for the 13-acre land, Ksh.1.5 billion has already been paid out to one of his companies, Afrison Export Import, and he had been demanding for the remaining Ksh.1.7 billion.
Discreet 69 years Francis Mburu Mungai is the single controlling the narrative of the controversial ownership of the Ruaraka schools land has deepened after a former associate of the controversial claimant unleashed a dossier exposing numerous multi-billion-land frauds.
In an explosive dossier, Meshack Onyango Dehay, a former ally of the man at the centre of the disputed Ruaraka land Francis Mburu Mungai reveals an intricate web of schemes to siphon the public of billions
in fraudulent compensation schemes.In his 42-paged personal statement sent to investigating agencies, the man denounced by Mburu as an extortionist turns into a whistle-blower and lays bare mind-boggling documentary evidence of rackets being
played out by land sharks.
He lists dizzying figures being claimed and paid or planned by the government with the collusion of state officials, through non disclosure of information for multi-million kickbacks. The dossier has already been received by Parliament and is now a privileged document. Onyango claims Mburu has used the Ruaraka land to mint billions of shillings since the death of its true former “owner”, Phillip Wahome who died in 2004.
He claims that the initial land was LR. NO. 7879/4 and that it was never sub-divided into LR. NO.7879/24 and LR. NO. 7879/25 used by Mburu on numerous occasions to defraud the government. Onyango claims Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Nairobi governor Mike Sonko, Education PS Belio Kipsang’ and National Lands Commission Chairman Mohamed Swazuri among other top state officers are
masterminds of the Ruaraka heist.
Early this year, the government paid Whispering Palms Estate Ltd Sh1.5 billion as part of the Sh3.2 compensation claim by Mburu for the acquisition of Ruaraka High School and Drive-in Primary school. In what reads like fiction, Onyango paints a picture of a systematic plot by Mburu to defraud the State for over a decade. He alleges that Mburu had initially approached the late former Internal Security
Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode to aid the scam for kickbacks.
But in what is promising to be a dirty war, Mburu has himself told MPs probing the land that Onyango is among disgruntled extortionists who were salivating for his cash. The dossier has been sent to Parliament, the EACC, CID and DPP with Onyango seeking a chance to appear before MPs to reveal how top state officers connived with Mburu to steal from the public. He now claims that his life is in danger following the expose.
“By a copy of this personal statement I request both the honourable speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate and their respective investigative committee to order that I be given personal security,” Onyango states.
EACC spokesman Yasin Amaro yesterday confirmed to the Star that the agency had indeed received the letter from Onyango and investigations were ongoing. Onyango alleges that Mburu through his Afrison Export Import limited and Huelands Ltd have swindled the Kenyan government over Sh3.8 billion in fraudulent claims on the Ruaraka land alone since 2012. Lifting the lid on alleged behind the scenes maneuvers, Onyango says another mega scandal is in the offing at the Office of the President with the connivance of the Attorney General’s chambers which the courts plan to rubber stamp.
He says the taxpayers are staring at the loss of Sh141 billion through Petition No. 376 of 2015 and a further Sh840 million for the Ruaraka chief’s camp and Administration Police headquarters. Onyango at the same time flags what could soon unfold as the country’s most choreographed scam involving the ministry of Transport and Infrastructure as well as the Nairobi County government.
He claims that a plot has been hatched by top ministry officials and high-ranking Nairobi county government officers to fleece taxpayers of a staggering Sh4.2 billion through a bus park to be constructed as part of the controversial Rapid Transport System.
The estranged ally who affects strong political connections says there is a plan to approve compensation to Mburu so that the county can put up a bus park on a fictitious 20-acre allegedly on the LR. NO. 7879/4 Ruaraka land. Detailing how influential tender barons are working with top state officers to swindle billions, Onyango claim that another earthshaking scandal is unfolding along Ngong’ road at a “breath-neck speed(sic).”
He says there are plans to acquire LR. NO.7656 along Ngong’ Road at a cost of Sh13 billion and another Sh9.6 billion for Chakama Ranching Company Ltd land in Kilifi. Onyango says the Kilifi land, now under the name of Mburu’s firm, New Agricultural ltd, was grabbed from the “poor owners.”
The businessman claims that negotiations are also at an advanced stage for Nairobi County to pay Mburu’s firm Afrison Export Import Ltd a claim of Sh24 billion despite a court order that absolved the devolved
unit. Mburu’s companies were initially demanding Sh6.7 billion before the amount was scaled up to Sh12 billion, he says.
“Francis Mburu had put forward a proposal to governor Mike Sonko on how to share the loot once the figure is agreed upon before we had our disagreements in February 2018,” said Onyango in his letter.
Regarding the compensation of the Ruaraka land, Onyango claims that prior to the disbursement of the initial payment Sh1.5 billion, Nairobi county wrote off the land rates that stood at Sh700 million and replaced them with Sh12 million.