The deputy president William Ruto is rocked in a battle against the possible demolition of Weston Hotel. DP Ruto is battling claims made by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) to the National Land Commission (NLC), claiming that Weston Hotel is built on its land.
According to the Standard Newspaper, DP Ruto’s lawyer, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, has already appeared before the NLC to defend the acquisition of the land on which the hotel sits.
This is after the NLC had written to Weston Hotel Limited to appear before it to defend its land papers in reply to the KCAA petition.
The Standard reports that Mr. Abdullahi denied that his client had acquired the land irregularly, saying no one had come forward to claim the property since it was acquired. He also said no complaint had been received from the State or any individual during the hotel’s construction.
“Our client is not aware of any allegations of fraud or misrepresentation against him in procuring the transfer and registration of the property. In any event, if such an allegation were made, it would be the duty of the person making such claims to prove it.”
The Standard further reports that Mr. Abdullahi told the NLC panel that DP Ruto acquired the land in 2007 for Sh. 10 million from its registered owners, Priority Management Ltd and Monene Investments Limited.
Here is the full report:
“The two companies had been allocated the parcel of land measuring 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres) on January 5, 1998 for a period of 99 years to develop residential flats and apartments after paying a stand premium of Sh. 320,000.
The companies got the certificate of lease for the land in 2002 before transferring it to Weston Hotel on June 13, 2007. Weston then applied for change of user, which was approved.
The hotel, according to a valuation report by Zenith (Management) Valuers Ltd, was valued at Sh. 300 million in May this year and had been charged to a bank for Sh. 1.2 billion.
On December 7, 2011, Ruto charged the property for Sh. 100 million, which was discharged on October 8, 2014. Ruto and Rachel signed the charge documents on December 8, 2011 as directors of Weston.
Ruto then charged the property to Kenya Commercial Bank for a Sh. 350 million and $1.5 million (about Sh. 150 million) facility on June 30, 2014. This charge was signed by Rachael and Charlene.
On July 8, 2015, Weston took a further charge of Sh. 700 million which was signed by Rachael and Charlene before lawyer Nancy W. Gitau. This took the total charge at KCB to Sh. 1.2 billion. All the charges were prepared by the law firm of Hamilton, Harris and Mathews (HH&M).
“KCB subsequently extended additional credit facilities to our client and as a result instructed HH&M to prepare further charge over the property, which was stamped and registered,” said Abdullahi.
He added: “Our client is a bona fide purchaser for value. If there is any defect on the title, our client was not aware of it. The allottee has a valid grant obtained from Government, on which was endorsed the transfer to our client.”
The lawyer told NLC to consider the legality of documents by Weston, saying the hotel directly employed 141 people with several hundred in indirect employment as suppliers and taxi operators.
NLC wrote to Weston on October 8 explaining that it was carrying out inquiries on the circumstances around the allocation and registration of LR Number 209/14372 on Lang’ata Road. The commission set October 31 as the date when both Weston and KCAA would appear jointly to defend their ownership claims.
But Ruto questioned the intention of the inquiry. He demanded to be given a copy of the formal complaint from KCAA, an explanation on how NLC reached the decision to conduct the inquiry, and any document the commission had about the land.