Weston Hotel saga to be heard at the height of campaigns next year

After a lull in courts, Weston Hotel’s land saga took a political twist on Sunday following reference to the hotel by ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The case ought to have been heard by the Environment and Lands Court in July this year, however, Weston’s lawyers moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge an order that the case ought to be heard in full.

The case had been scheduled to commence on July 12, 2021, after Justice Bernard Eboso dismissed Weston’s argument that it had no powers to hear the case.

In June last year, Weston urged Justice Eboso to dismiss KCAA’s case arguing that the court had no powers to hear it.

The hotel said KCAA had defied National Lands Commission’s (NLC) orders to conclude negotiations on the land after which Dr William Ruto would compensate it.

Weston argued that the only way the agency would approach the court was through an appeal and not a fresh case.

While disagreeing with the hotel, Justice Eboso in March this year said that the court had powers to hear cases emanating from the commission. The judge ordered parties to prepare to tell their side of the story on July 12.

However, the appeal meant that the Lands Court had to push the case to March next year, five months before the country goes to the General Election.

The case will be mentioned before Justice Lucy Mbugua on March 15, 2022. She takes over from Justice Eboso after he was transferred from Milimani Law Court, Nairobi to Thika. 

It was before Justice Eboso 18 times since June 12, 2019, when KCAA first lodged the duel before the lands court.

In court, Weston claims the case filed by Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) was fueled by politics.

Political fist

Nevertheless, during the Mashujaa fete on Sunday, Raila threw the first political fist by claiming that the land where the hotel sits was part of the newly rehabilitated Uhuru Gardens.

He said that the Uhuru Gardens had also been grabbed by greedy individuals who “don’t see any open space” before it was reclaimed by the State.

 “Here next to Weston hotel, which is part of this grounds…In Lang’ata Primary School there are torture chambers that have been preserved by the national museum.

“This land had been grabbed by those land grabbers who don’t see any open space but you managed to retrieve it back for the benefit of our people and it is going to remain truly Uhuru Gardens,” claimed Raila.

In its appeal papers, Weston wants the court to overturn a ruling by the environment and lands court that it has powers to hear disputes emanating from the National Lands Commission (NLC).

Before the Lands Court, the hotel sought to conclude negotiations that would determine how much it will pay KCAA for the 0.773-hectare land opposite Wilson Airport.

A fresh valuation of the land was to be done to estimate how much Weston was to pay before NLC regularised the title to Weston Ltd.

Citing NLC’s orders, Weston had asked the court to strike out the case “because KCAA has not exhausted the remedies offered by the commission.”

However, KCAA claimed Weston colluded with two firms - Monene Investment and Priority, to grab its land in Nairobi’s Lang’ata area.

KCAA lawyers Otiende Amolo and Stephen Ligunya argue that Priority could not have continued to deal with the same property after its legal interest in the land ceased.

“The second respondent was working with the third and fourth respondents in a scheme to construct on grabbed public land, perpetuating a fraud,” they argue, adding that it never bothered to carry out a proper search to ascertain that the title to the land was legal.

While dismissing Weston’s application to throw out the case before it is heard on merit, Justice Eboso ruled that the authority had a legitimate claim before the court, which ought to be heard in full.

 Weston now argues that the judge erred and fully determined the case even before it was heard.

At the same time, Weston accuses the judge of framing his own issues and discarding its argument in the ruling.