State House speaks out on Karen land row
A police officer keeps watch after evicting construction workers on part of the 134-acre land that is dispute in Karen on October 18, 2014. Buyers of the controversial Karen land in Nairobi want to join a case in which a company is fighting three others to lay claim on the 134-acre prime property. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE
What you need to know:
- The two leaders said they expected the law to be allowed to take its full course since the issue was already before the courts.
- State House said that further comment and speculation on the matter would be counterproductive since a judicial process on the matter was already on course.
- The leaders supported calls by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu for Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the matter.
- Acting Lang’ata OCPD Mwangi Kuria Friday led armed police officers to the site and ordered a stop to the construction that was going on.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto have reiterated their commitment to the rule of law in regard to the Karen land row.
In a statement released Saturday from State House, the two leaders said they expected the law to be allowed to take its full course since the issue was already before the courts.
The statement, signed by Secretary of Communications and State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu, said since Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu had requested the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the matter, the process “should also play out to the full.”
“Should the EACC find anyone – including public officers – to have been responsible for fraud, or abetted fraud in the case, then, of course, they will face the consequences set out by the law,” read the statement.
The statement also said that further comment and speculation on the matter would be counterproductive since a judicial process on the matter was already on course.
HIGH COURT ORDER
A High Court judge had earlier ordered the Lang'ata police boss to stop development on the 134-acre plot in Karen valued at Sh8 billion and whose ownership is contested by two businessmen.
On Friday, police moved in and stopped further construction on the disputed piece of land until the case comes up for mention in the High Court on October 28, 2014.
Acting Lang’ata OCPD Mwangi Kuria led armed police officers to the site and ordered a stop to the construction that was going on.
He ordered those involved in the construction to vacate the land after serving them with a court order that was issued on October 15, 2014
Justice Lucy Nyambura Gacheru had ordered the Lang'ata OCPD to ensure compliance with a court order issued on September 3, 2014.
The order had stopped three companies from interfering with the said land following an application by Muchanga Investments Limited, owned by businessman Horatius Da Gama Rose.
