The govt repossesses the land saying it had been grabbed.
The troubles facing Deputy President William Ruto appear to be escalating by the day after he lost a 1600-acre piece of land in Nairobi.
The land was one of the two ranches repossessed by the government as it seeks to expand the Nairobi sewerage plant which will be built in Ruai.
The national government said in a statement:
The government today embarked on an operation to repossess over 3,000 acres of the Dandora Estate Waste Sewerage Treatment Plant, located in Ruai, which has been grabbed by private entities.
The 1605-acre bloc was previously owned by Renton Company which is associated with is reportedly owned by Ruto alongside two other former operatives in former President Daniel arap Moi’s government.
With an acre of land in Ruai going for about Sh3 million, the value of the land is in the billions.
The other block measuring 999 acres was previously owned by former Presidential candidate Cyrus Jirongo who is also Ruto’s former business partner.
The repossession, however, is likely to take longer to be effected as the matter is expected to be contested in court with Renton, through lawyer Tom Ojienda, already filing notice to contest the government’s decision.
The Ruai ranch adds on to Ruto’s land problems as he is already in court fighting to save the Weston Hotel from being demolished by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).
The National Land Commission had ruled that Ruto pays KCAA Sh210 million for the land where Weston Hotel is built after it was established that the prime land was grabbed.
KCAA, however, declined the NLC’s decision and asked the court to allow it to demolish the Weston Hotel and repossess its land as opposed to being compensated for a fraudulent grab
Muraguri and Irungu named the affected parcels as LR 28706, measuring 1,605 acres, which is owned by Renton Company Limited. The other parcel of land measured 999 acres.
(H/T Pulse Live)