DP Ruto to know by February if Weston Hotel will be demolished

The National Lands Comission (NLC) is expected to give its final verdict regarding the ownership of the contested parcel of land Weston Hotel in Lang’ata sits on before the term of the current commissioners expires on February 19, 2019.

Speaking after the commission wrapped up the hearings on the land tussle, NLC’s Acting Chairperson Abigael Mbagaya said that the commission will put to rest speculation around ownership of the land after probing the matter conclusively.

“We are looking at everybody. The law is very clear on how we should handle issues. We are going to analyze the presentations made by everybody and we will make a decision, “said Ms. Mbagaya.

Following the conclusion of the hearings, the commissioners will now turn their attention to analyzing reports from the director of survey and the chief land registrar in the Ministry of Lands.

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is accusing Weston Hotel Limited, the group that owns Weston Hotel in Lang’ata of acquiring the land from it fraudulently.

According to KCAA Manager Legal Service Cyril Wayong’o, some of the authority’s employees colluded to transfer the ownership of the land during the authority’s transition from a Ministry of Transport department to a parastatal.

Wayong’o tabled a sworn affidavit detailing how the 1.77 acre piece of land was dubiously transferred to private land.

He said KCAA wants to restate its claim to the property LR No.209/14372 Langata Road saying that the land should be returned to the government.

“I have sworn an affidavit with a clear history of the matter detailing all the way from the 1970s when this property was being used by East African Community (EAC) for the purposes of civil aviation and thereafter how it was used by Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) under the Ministry of Transport as central stores and earmarked for the development of the KCAA headquarters,” explained Wayong’o.

“In 2003 we established that the property had been allocated to two companies Monene investment and Priority limited who later on sold it to Weston Hotel limited. We reported the issue to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Commissioner of Lands to follow up on the issue and there was none cooperation on the same,” he added.

Wayong’o explained that a mysterious process was undertaken under the instruction of the Ministry of Lands to move the equipment from the said land to an alternate piece of land which later turned out to belong to the meteorological department,” explained Wayong’o.

He added that the authority alongside EACC has moved to court over the grabbing of 15 parcels of land. According to the authority’s lawyer five titles have been revoked due to their contested ownership.

“My request to the commission is that any title that may have been issued to any party is actually a nullity and it is my prayer that this commission exercises its powers to actually revoke the title now in the name of Monene investment Limited and Weston Hotel,” said Wayong’o.

Weston Hotel Limited owned by Deputy President William Ruto however claimed that it acquired the land procedurally.

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Through its lawyer AhmedNassir Abdullahi, Weston Hotel Limited said that KCAA did not provide any document to support their ownership of the land.

Abdullahi backed his claim by saying EACC has already investigated the ownership of the land and found no culpability on behalf of Weston Hotel.

“In both instances the allotee to the land including Weston Hotel have written to KCAA before any development and the authority replied and gave them the go ahead to build by the specifications in terms of height because there are airplanes there,” explained Abdullahi.