School land files ‘not in registries’

Crucial files in that could unmask the people behind the Lang’ata Road Primary School land grab are missing from government registries.

Efforts by the Nation Tuesday to access files from the companies registry on Airport View Housing Limited that claims ownership of the land bore no fruit.

The story was the same at the Lands registry where no files could be traced that would reveal the transactions and approvals by which the company acquired the title for the land.

RUTO'S NAME

The Nation was also unable to get any files at the Companies registry that would reveal the owners of Weston Hotel that is next to the disputed plot.

The hotel came into the picture following early reports that it had taken over the land to use it as a parking lot.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi denied that the hotel was involved in the saga. He also said it was not owned by Deputy President William Ruto.

He said the main shareholder and director of Weston Hotel was a Mr Patrick Osero, erroneously referred to as ‘Osiero’ in Tuesday’s Nation.

The Nation on Tuesday established that the Patrick Osero in question is a close confidant and business associate of the Deputy President going back to the latters’ stint in the Youth for Kanu ’02 pressure group.

Contacted Tuesday by the Nation, Mr Osero, who is also the chairman of the Agricultural Finance Corporation, affirmed that he was the owner of the hotel, but would not divulge any more details, referring the reporter to his lawyer.

Weston Hotel also sits on a controversial piece of land. An investigative feature three years ago showed that it was among the properties constructed on land that initially belonged to Wilson Airport across Lang’ata Road.

The feature, "Dying Wilson", displayed maps showing that the land was owned by the Kenya Airports Authority and had been reserved for the planned Kenya Civil Aviation Authority headquarters.