This feature on the Yaya West Wing building was written and first published by Kyrgitt Kalya. Kalya runs the Flipside Hustle platform for small and medium businesses:
Yaya West Wing building. It has been standing incomplete for the last 32 years. No, it can’t be sold to anyone because you’d have to sell Yaya Centre too as it stands on the same property. Let me wear my Reddington hat and tell you a short story.
Once upon a time we had a man known as the Bull of Auckland… or Total Man, as he was commonly known. His government name was Kipyator Kiprono Biwott Nicholas.
He got the name Bull of Auckland as a tease by GG Kariuki in Parliament back in the 90s because of an embarrassing diplomatic spat with New Zealand. A week before, Total Man had been part of Mzee Moi’s delegation to Auckland New Zealand and for a Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting and on one morning, a housekeeper, thinking he was out of the hotel, ran into him in his room while he was ‘comando’ and she ran out screaming that he was about to rape her. You know out there, these games we play with indecency is not tolerable. The police became involved but it soon became a diplomatic issue which the foreign affairs ministry doused water on; but not before it being a matter of all jokes and taunts on how he almost ‘mounted a hapless innkeeper.
Total Man, or the Bull (commonly known as Karnet by Kalenjins~meaning Ironbar) was a very intelligent yet ruthless operator.
He, though departed, owns Yaya Centre and that moribund building adjacent to it.
There was a bank that went under, definitely by design, called Trade Bank. This bank had been started by two brothers; Alnoor Kassam and Iqbal Kassam.
Trade Bank had been sued for fraudulently transferring Yaya Centre to itself. You see, the bank had borrowed money from Deposit Protection Fund for the construction of its own building, Trade Bank Building but it instead charged the assets of Yaya Towers Ltd to secure the money. They did this because in the early 90s, they had advanced Biwott 900M which he never repaid.
The twist is, though Trade Bank was founded by the Kassam’s, it was 75 percent owned by Biwott and his Israeli friend Gad Zeevi. These two gentlemen also founded a company known as HZ Group of which LZ Engineering which holds the title to Yaya Centre is part of.
They had already begun construction of Yaya Centre but through their bank, they managed to loan themselves ‘chini ya maji’.
This later led to problems as Kassam started asking for repayments. What Kassam didn’t know was that during that time, your freedom of rights were loaned to you by the deep state. Today’s deep state are kindergartenners compared to back then. (Hence it doesn’t worry nor bother some of old Kanu operatives about deepstate, they’ve seen worse)… Kassam was given three options, to be deported, to walk away or to forget there was any money he was owed. He fled to Canada never to return.
The two partners didn’t stay together long after that… they fell out after Gad Zeevi accused Biwott of playing his cards under the table about the companies they jointly owned. Zeevi had a second partner he had brought into the partnership with Biwott called Vaizman Aharoni. Due to fears of Biwott, Zeevi brought in his best friend called David Kimche who was Israeli Spy Master who together with Aharoni were Mossad. They came in as friends and associates.
Late policewoman Caroline Kangogo’s husband speaks
Biwott didn’t trust them around him after that and increased his own personal security. Since Biwott was a very powerful minister…
(So powerful was he that when former US Ambassador to Kenya Smith Hempstone became an ally of activists during the clamor of multipartysim in Kenya and subsequently condemned Moi’s government and Biwott in particular for the death of Robert Ouko… Biwott had him expelled from our territory and he followed him to the USA with litigation from all corners including using his ex girlfriends to torment his soul until he quit his job as a diplomat and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. He returned to his earlier profession of journalism and authoring memoirs as his pastime. He later died of diabetes in 2006 5 years after Biwott successfully sued him for defamation).
I digress.
Biwott knew Mossad were bad news hence Biwott never travelled in marked vehicles all his powerful life. No Mercedes nor Pajeros and Landcruisers. He never ate food served in events and if he had to, he’d get food from the ‘raiaa’ servings. He would exchange hightable food with common food. Biwott would use 5 cars to get to one destination and you’d never know which car he would be in as he’d start the journey with one and end in a totally different one.
As the Yaya West Wing building had not been completed at this time…around 1995… the Israeli partners fearing for their lives as they were being trailed as well… instructed the Israeli contractor on site to leave the property and count their losses.
However, they had one more kick to deliver in the balls of the Bull of Auckland… Aharoni instructed the contractor to pour concrete in all elevator shafts, all drainage, all functional waterways and stairwells and a column that randomly runs down the building haphazardly.
The West Wing building became rendered moribund, useless and dysfunctional. The only way out is to demolish it all the way down to the basement and flatten the ground and to start a brand new building afresh… or make a children’s park there.
The Israelis left Kenya after having had a sweet revenge served on the Total Man.
Moral of the story …
Do business with powerful people at your own risk. They can, and they always do, easily throw you under the bus …. but you’re not Mossad. You’ll be the only one to suffer the consequences.
