KCAA executive director Gilbert Kibe yesterday said the plot on Langata Road in Nairobi is among hundreds of parcels that it wants to reclaim.
“All I can tell you is that we are trying our best to repossess our land. We are in court with several cases and the rest is with National Land Commission. Yes, Weston Hotel is part of the land but the case is with NLC,” Kibe told the Star.
Kibe was responding to a campaign started on Monday by economist David Ndii who tweeted asking President Uhuru Kenyatta to demolish the hotel. He attached an exclusive story from the Star in June 2015 detailing how Ruto acquired the land.
“[Uhuru], this is public land. One more friend you need to lose. And once you are done with him, turn yourself in,” Ndii said in a tweet tagged to the DP that went viral on social media.
The 0.773ha plot L.R. No. 209/14372 is opposite Wilson Airport on Langata Road and was formerly the site of the KCAA central stores.
David Mugonyi, the DP’s communication secretary, declined to comment.
In June 2015 Ruto admitted that he had interests in the hotel on Citizen TV’s The Big Question programme.
The Survey Plan Folio Number 198 and Register Number 169 was registered on January 31, 1990, and showed that the land belonged to the Directorate of Civil Aviation.
Yesterday, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko said all structures on riparian or public land will be demolished, while ticking off Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu who wants rivers rerouted to save buildings.
“My good friend and colleague should concentrate on his county. He should know we don’t mix friendship with work. Even Weston, my Buruburu Casurina coco beach plot, Taj Mall and many other buildings shall not be spared if found to be on riparian or public land,” Sonko wrote on Facebook.
The Auditor General’s report for the year ending June 30, 2016, showed that the Public Investment Committee had referred the Weston transfer to the National Land Commission for investigation with a view to restitution.
The acting chairperson of the National Land Commission, Abigael Mbagaya, yesterday told the Star that they no longer have powers to conclude such cases.
“The case came to us. However, our mandate to review grants expired on May 2, 2017. We went to Parliament to seek an extension but they haven’t done that so there is nothing we can do at the moment,” she said.
“We can’t revoke titles any other way or continue the process without the supportive law,” she added.
Section 14 of the NLC Act allowed the commission to probe grants and transfers of public land but only for five years from May 2, 2012.
Therefore, the NLC lost its powers to conclude land disputes last year and can no longer receive fresh complaints.
