Uproar over demolition of Grand Manor Hotel

The demolition of businessman Prafur Kumar’s multi-million Grand Manor Hotel in Gigiri on grounds that it posed a danger to UN headquarters and the US embassy has caused a furore among Kenyans with some questioning why the two did not stop its construction in the first place.

This year’s biggest heartbreaker, SANY made its way to the hotel’s location at dawn and started pulling down the establishment months after businessman Rameshchandra Govind Gorasia’s Airgate Mall popularly known as Taj Mall and Edermann’s properties’ Seefar Apartments were brought down for different reasons.

The Nairobi County Government was ordered by the High Court to bring down the building which sits between The High Commission of Botswana and the Embassy of Morocco.

Here are some of the reactions:

163 buildings were earmarked for demolition but only a handful of about 5 have been demolished. Has there been compromise somewhere???!!! Someone is playing games with Kenyan people .
Let’s get to the bottom of it surely!!! https://t.co/bi7JWU8cAR

— SheikhTweets (@TweetsSheikh) December 13, 2018

I agree. But until we have all the facts it’s impossible to really get to the bottom of it. Was it an afterthought that having a hotel near the UN posed a danger? What next? Restaurants? Housing complexes? Human beings? Is this the main reason for the bribery set up/demolition? https://t.co/k3WMtWWfdA

— Hon. Esther M Passaris (@EstherPassaris) December 13, 2018

@UN This demolition does not make any sense. How can a hotel being adjacent your offices constitute a security threat. The Israeli Embassy in Nairobi is adjacent Fairview Hotel. And when did terrorists start targeting the United Nations?!

— Joel Muinde (@mulonzijoel) December 13, 2018

The Israeli Embassy and Fairview Hotel is a great example of the mutual benefits that could have been between the UN HQ, Embassies and the Grand Manor Hotel.
Its demolition appears to have been out of pure malice.

— Kiigen K. Koech (@KiigenKoech) December 13, 2018