Gakuyo Land Deals: The government is staring at a multi-million loss after acquiring land from a company that is linked to controversial preacher and land seller David Ngari alias Gakuyo.
According to media reports, the government through the County Government of Murang’a in 2018 acquired land at a cost of Sh. 134 million from a company known as Chosen Builders Investments. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has since linked the company’s ownership to Gakuyo.
Although the money for the 50 acre land was paid out in 2018, Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) Director Alice Mate says that titles for the land have never been issued. She said that this has now put the investment plus a Sh. 800 million cash that has been poured into a project that was supposed to solve waste problems through the land at risk.
According to a report that appeared in the Daily Nation, the money for the project had been provided by the World Bank. “The payment to the controversial company was made in two trenches with the first batch of Sh. 53 million being paid out in 2017 and the balance offset in January 2018,” the report said.
Gakuyo: Paying off investors’ money is making me grow thin
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the controversial preacher is finding himself linked to suspect land deals. A few years ago, Gakuyo left investors in his Ekeza Sacco in heavy losses after failing to honour their investments. An audit report showed how he had moved investors’ money from Ekeza Sacco to a personal account that only he and his wife could access. He transferred the money in order to fund his lifestyle. He then used it to purchase numerous personal properties
Ngari reportedly transferred the money between 2015 and 2017. The audit report was prepared by a team appointed by Commissioner for Cooperatives Mary Mungai last December. The report showed that Ngari transferred Sh. 88 million in 2015, Sh. 850 million in 2016 and Sh. 625 million in 2017. Of the Sh. 1.5 billion, Sh. 507 million was loaned to some Ekeza Sacco members who wanted to own homes under Chosen Green City, a housing project in Kabati, Murang’a County. The project was being undertaken by the sacco’s sister company, Gakuyo Real Estate.
