DEMOLITION! Will DP Ruto Fights To SAVE Weston Hotel From Government?

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Deputy President William Ruto is currently engaged in a legal battle to save his multimillion Weston Hotel from being demolished. On Tuesday, Ruto’s lawyer appeared before the National Land Commission (NLC) where he defended the ownership of Weston Hotel. NLC is the constitutionally mandated body to deal with land issues including administration and management of public land.

A government agency, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has petitioned the NLC to help it take back the land on which Weston Hotel sits – claiming it was the rightful owner.

Ahmednasir, however, denied the allegations raised by KCAA, saying that his client had bought the land regularly and from its registered owners.

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 stated.

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Abdullahi called on NLC to be considerate when making a decision on the land, saying the hotel directly employed 141 people with several hundred in indirect employment as suppliers and taxi operators.

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 Sh300 million in May this year and had been charged to a bank for Sh1.2 billion. On December 7, 2011, Ruto charged the property for Sh100 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 Sh350 million and $1.5 million (about Sh150 million) facility on June 30, 2014.

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This charge was signed by Rachael and Charlene. On July 8, 2015, Weston took a further charge of Sh700 million which was signed by Rachael and Charlene before lawyer Nancy W. Gitau. This took the total charge at KCB to Sh1.2 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.”

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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. KCB lawyer Martin Muge asked the commission to be sensitive on the decision it took on the matter, saying it could have ramifications on the bank’s interests.  “In accordance to the Land Registration Act, the rights of the chargor (KCB) have an overriding interest over any land charged,” Mr Muge said.

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