Uhuru says those culpable in Karen land to face the law

President Uhuru Kenyatta n Saturday waded into the Sh8 billion Karen land scandal and declared that anyone found to have fraudulently acquired the 134 acres of the land will be prosecuted.

President Kenyatta said he and Deputy President William Ruto “are firm and unwavering believers in the rule of the law” and would allow investigations and the judicial process to run their course.

“The Cabinet Secretary responsible for lands, Mrs Charity Ngilu, has formally requested an investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) into the matter. It is a process that 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,” says the President through his spokesman, Mr Manoah Esipisu.

Last week, Sunday Nation exposed at least 40 Members of Parliament as among top Jubilee government officials and politicians believed to have benefited from the land grab.

Sunday Nation further revealed that the MPs have benefited from the disputed property alongside government officials and brokers in what is seen as a scheme to buy their silence despite a High Court order by Justice Nyambura Gacheru.

At the centre of the dispute is city businessman Horatius Da Gama Rose and former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Managing Trustee Jos Konzolo, the owner of a company called Telesource.com, which claims ownership of the 134-acre land and went ahead to subdivide it.

AWAIT HIGH COURT DECISION

On Saturday, President Kenyatta called on the public to await the decision of the High Court, which is currently handling the case.

“As there are clear judicial processes already under way, further comment and speculation about the Karen land row would be counterproductive at this stage,” he added.

However, State House sources told Sunday Nation that Mrs Ngilu was summoned by President Kenyatta to explain the status of the land early this week. The sources said that the minister impressed upon the President that she was on top of the crisis which was painting a section of  jubilee government as lawless, exercising impunity and raw power.

Mr Esipisu could not confirm or deny the said meeting.

“The Cabinet has not met for two weeks and I don’t know anything about that. What we have said is enough. There is no further addition or subtraction,” says Mr Esipisu.

Court documents seen by the Sunday Nation show that the prime land has been sub-divided by Telesource into 189 plots.

Mr Da Gama Rose’s company, Muchanga Investments Ltd, has sued Telesource, Habenga Holdings, Jina Enterprises Ltd, Director of Survey, Director of Physical Planning, Ministry of Land, Registrar of Titles and Chief Land Registrar in the dispute.

On Monday, Justice Gacheru  gave fresh directive to the Police to evict the invaders from the land or be cited for contempt after the invaders disregarded the first orders. However,  the police pussy footed on the order before effecting it close to 72 hours later.

A visit at the venue on Saturday showed that casual labourers who were working on structures have become the latest victims of this 144-acre piece of land.

The men and women who had been hired to work on the numerous construction sites yesterday claimed their employers vanished with their wages.

“We had been hired to help put up a concrete fence since Monday but we don’t know who will pay us. We were brought here by a foreman but we don’t know who our employer is,” claimed Allan Muinde who worked as a brick layer.

On Monday, the High Court Judge Lucy Nyambura ordered the police to enforce an order to stop any constructions on the 144-acre land whose ownership is still unclear.

However, the order was not immediately enforced and various construction works went ahead with putting up walls to partition the plots the land has been divided into.

On Thursday, the police descended on the site and ordered everyone out, including the casual labourers. The land has since been put under 24-hour guard. Some of the plot owners had argued they hadn’t been served with the court order.

But the workers, many of who came from the shanty towns of Nairobi, say they no longer know whether they still have jobs or whether they will be paid for what they had done.

“We don’t want to know whether the land belonged to our employer or not, that was his responsibility. Ours was to work because we wanted the job,” said Nixon, another labourer.

“We have been given work but no one is paying us. Our supervisor cannot be reached. To work for four days without pay is very difficult for us with families,” added his colleague, Douglas.

When the Sunday Nation team visited the site, we found two armed police officers from the Karen police Station guarding the area.

The construction machines that were busy two days earlier had all vanished though the labourers had come to collect some of their tools they left behind hurriedly when the police herded them out on Friday.

On one plot, a wall had been constructed up to 2 metres high while several others had dug-out foundations ready for construction. Only cows and sheep could be seen roaming around the plots, looking for grass.

On Friday, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Mumo Matemu announced he had received a request from Mrs Ngilu to investigate whether there was abuse of office in registering ownership of the Karen land.

But Ngilu had dismissed allegations by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) that some politicians and senior government officials have benefited from the scam.

EACC has since summoned Senators Johnston Muthama and James Orengo shed light on the land scandal.