The National Lands Commission (NLC) indicated in its report that the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) contradicted itself when it stated that they wanted Weston Hotel posed as a hazard yet they also indicated that they wanted to construct its huge headquarters there.
The January 22 report by NLC reveals that KCAA was complicit leading to loss of 0.773 hectares of its land. Suspicious transactions led to the transfer of KCAA land to Priority Limited at Monene Investments Limited before it was sold to Weston Hotel associated with Deputy President William Ruto.
In the report, NLC stated that KCAA officials conspired with officials in the lands ministry to transfer land ownership without any evidence of forged documents. “There definitely was a conspiracy of silence between lands officials and KCAAofficials. The process of allocation may not have followed the due process, but no documents were apparently forged,” NLC reported indicated.
In the analysis, NLC which recommended that Weston Hotelshould pay KCAA for the land, argued that the aviation authority readily complied with instructions to transfer ownership only to cry foul of the mistakes of its own making.
Flimsy reasoning
NLC found that before the land was transferred to the first private developer, it served as a store site as KCAA also planned to set up its headquarters.
However, KCAA was “verbally” lured into believing they had been allocated an alternative land in 2001 prompting them to surrender the land that Weston Hotel currently occupies.
“…suddenly and with extremely flimsy reasoning on January 3, 2003 the Director General of KCAA… stated that he has received verbal communication that the parcel has been allocated to a developer,” read the analysis. While blaming management of KCAA, NLC noted, “KCAA voluntarily evacuated the site reserved for them near Wilson Airport, and by accepting the alternative site, they relinquished their claims to the site.”
Therefore, NLC blamed KCAA management of vacating the subject parcel without establishing if the alternative land was available. NLC accused KCAA of laxity in seeking repossession of its land.
NLC stated that “KCAA was reluctant to seek court interventions” despite pressure from the parent ministry of Transport and Communication to take action. It did not instruct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, despite retaining a law firm in their dealings, to sue for the return of the property.
“KCAA therefore evacuated the site completely and made way for a third party to occupy it and develop it,” the report signed by NLC Vice Chairperson Abigael Mbagaya observed.
No board resolutions
At the same time, KCAA is also accused of failing to submit any board resolutions regarding the land matter and therefore making it impossible for the commission to know if there were any resolution.
Equally, NLC admitted that even Weston Hotel did not provide any information about how they acquired land “Except that Priority and Monene Limited were in possession of title documents from the Commissioner of Lands.”
Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter
Apparently, NLC poses key questions to KCAA regarding their reasons why they wanted to repossess land including the plan to construct its headquarters. Yesterday, Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi who is Ruto’s lawyer said he would comment about report once he has received it.
“I cannot comment on a report that I have not seen. We will comment when we have seen it,” he said on phone.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join