Anxiety checks in as Deputy President risks losing his title deed

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Did you ever think of a day when the National Lands Commission would touch Deputy President William Ruto? Well, the day is here with us.

Deputy President William Ruto’s Weston Hotel on Lang’ata road may have been acquired illegally according to claims from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority. According to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, the land was illegally handed to a private developer.

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According to documents presented to the commission, the transfer of this land from public to private utility took effect on August 30, 2002 when it was allocated to Priority Limited. In January of the following year, the then PS for transport and communication, Sammy Kyungu, wrote to the then Lands PS Francis Baya noting that public land had been fenced off by a private developer.

The letter read, “ I want to further reiterate the earlier position of this Ministry, that the said plot is not available and is among the very important inventory of assets which the Government is expected to transfer to the KCAA and should not be allocated to any other party.”

However, yesterday KCAA told the National Lands Commission that the ownership of the plot was transferred to a private entity against the advice of senior government officials.

“KCAA management board has never agreed to surrender this title to a private entity at any one given time,” Cyril Wayong’o- Lawyer representing KCAA told NLC.

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The land was transferred to Weston Hotels Limited and Monene Investment from Priority Limited on 13th June 2007, despite the advise from the PS. According to Deputy President William Ruto, all legal procedures were followed and the land was acquired legitimately.

“There’s really no purpose of declining my client the ownership of this property when you cannot assign any blame to it…in terms of how it was acquired, the construction it paid and the history of the property subsequent to its allocation,” said Ahmednassir Abdullahi, Senior Counsel representing Ruto.

Before the construction of the Weston Hotel, the land belonged to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority’s central stores where equipment and spares were kept.

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The plot had been earmarked by the authority for the construction of its headquarters but of controversy is how the authority vacated the land in 2002 when it was allocated parcels elsewhere and the manner in which the then DCA stores were relocated.

The National Land Commission is now probing the acquisition of the 1.7 acre piece of land by DP Ruto which had been earmarked by the authority for the construction of it’s headquarters before they decide whether or not the current title deed that gives ownership to Weston Hotel Ltd should be revoked.

NLC said it will give its verdict before the expiry of the term of the current commissioners in February.

 

 

Do you think the Deputy President acquired the land legally?

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