#ArrestLandGrabbers: A Call Into Actions For Authorities To Clamp Down On Nairobi And Eastleigh Land Grabbers

CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro

In the past days, Kenya Insights has laid a campaign dedicated to exposing the land-grabbing syndicate made up of dishonest businesspeople collaborating with corrupt City Hall officials and Judiciary in derailing justice over a piece of land in Eastleigh.

The Nairobi County Council owns the land in question listed as a public utility but has been overtaken by private developers. Through PPP, County Government had in plan to lease the land to investors for 45 years during which a mall and office spaces would be created, and the council collect rent after 20 years of the lease.

A clash occurred when the two companies shortlisted for the PP namely Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall ended up in a spring of court battles. The tendering board of the then City Council unanimously awarded Golden Lime International Ltd the contract to put up a structure on the land.

The decision was met with opposition and the losing Blue Sea Shopping Mall through their other company Alfa Traders moved to court to challenge the decision. In a nutshell, the case has been in and out of the courts since 2008 to date. Court of Appeal ruled that both the opposing party retract and the entire PPP process be re-initiated by the Nairobi County Government.

Miraculously, or rather a Kenyan way, Blue Sea Shopping Mall started construction despite courts ruling otherwise in what seems like a high placed blessing from the City Hall, the custodians of the said land.

National Lands Commission has revoked their construction’s licence ordered for the constructions be stopped, but all these have been disregarded, and the development continues heedless with high degree impunity.

The Office of Ombudsman took up the case but have sat on the report for so long. The office has since written to the writer of this story that the report would be out and put in the public coming week.

The bulk of suffering has been on the traders who’ve been caught up in the middle of the fighting investors and the loose justice system. They now have to look for other spaces to go about their business.

In our previous piece, we unmasked the land grabbers. Farah Barrow and Ali Sheikh Muhamad the listed and proxy Directors of Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, which is technically one thing. The ghost and real owner of these companies behind series of land grabbings are one Sheikh Khalifa. Besides Eastleigh Land, there’s Eastleigh Primary School, which they also grabbed.

Sheikh Khalifa, the billionaire and financier of Alfa Traders, is also the owner of Diamond Park Estate another piece of land grabbed from the ministry of agriculture and was previously marked for demolition but thanks to high places protection it was stopped by a call from the president himself following senator Sonko’s intervention. The matter of the land is still in the courts.

Grabbing of land listed for public consumption or any other land is a criminal act which should be punished by the courts of law. The matter of Eastleigh land has been in CID’s radar for the longest time, and the issue was taken to them for follow up, and they’ve been doing investigations or so they say. With facts out there, why would the law be soft towards such criminals in suits?

Land grabbing has been ongoing, and the mighty continue to have their way since they can buy themselves out. Law shouldn’t be too harsh on a chicken thief and be massaging to a large scale land grabber, both are criminals and should face the wrath of the law. A message need to be sent to the Eastleigh land grabbers and alike parties elsewhere, the police and relevant authorities need to spring into action and save the poor public from the deadly jaws of the monied and hungry land grabbers going after the few left public lands.

Kenya Insights is calling out for all Kenyans of Goodwill to use #ArrestLandGrabbers as the conversation guide in naming shaming and asking authorities to act and throw these criminals behind bars. Impunity is what cripples the nation more. CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro should take up the matter with speed and hand files for prosecution should the named be liable to questioning. Crime is a crime despite magnitude and no one should exclused from facing justice.