Without proof that Ruaraka land is public property, we have no scandal

Prove the Ruaraka land on which stand Drive In Primary School and Ruaraka Secondary School is public property fraudulently sold to the same public by Dr Fred Matiang’i, Dr Muhammad Swazuri and Prof Githu Muigai and we have a super-duper scandal.

The all-important question is this: Who owns the parcels of land on which sit the schools which have already cost the taxpayer Sh1.5 billion? The out of depth Nairobi Governor Gideon Mbuvi says the land belongs to the County Government.

But he produces no titles either for the parcels on which the schools sit or the entire 37-plus acre spread from which the two were hived.

Yet in a now hugely important High Court ruling of 2012, Judge Alfred Mabeya wrote thus of Nairobi’s most talked about land and sale:

“The Plaintiffs, Afrison Export and Import Limited and Huelands Limited, are the registered proprietors of all that piece of land known as LR No.7879/24 (hereinafter “the suit property”.

COMPULSORY ACQUISITION

From the evidence on record the suit property was part of a larger property LR No.7879/4 which the plaintiffs purchased from Joreth Limited in 1981.’’

The owner of the above-mentioned companies is Mr Francis Mburu. It is Afrison and Huelands that were compensated by the Government for the 1988 compulsory acquisition of their land on which the headquarters of the General Service Unit (GSU) sits.

The same companies have been fully compensated by the Government three times for the compulsory acquisition of 2.726 hectares in 2014; 1.319 hectares in 2016; and 1.198 hectares in 2017 for the purposes of upgrading and improvement of Outer Ring Road and construction of an access road to the said Outer Ring Road.

But why has consuming public interest been focused solely on the compulsory acquisition by the Ministry of Education of the land on which stand the two schools?

Indeed, this matter has been investigated separately by two committees of the National Assembly and the Senate.

FINAL SURVEYS

That suggests there is something special when it is compared to the above acquisitions. No, all the four acquisitions are awaiting final surveys to be undertaken before vesting the land in government and issuance of titles.

The Outer Ring Road acquisitions have been fully compensated but Afrison and Huelands were partially paid for the land on which the schools sit.

So if the facts about the ownership of the land and the compensation for compulsory acquisitions do not amount to something special or sinister even, let us look at the dramatis personae.

Prof Muigai, a thinking and softly spoken attorney, is a former Attorney-General and internationally acclaimed constitutional and human rights lawyer. His legal opinion was sought and he gave his go-ahead of the acquisition. He went back to a quiet life upon his resignation in January.

Dr Matiang’i is the no-nonsense Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the coveted Interior docket who President Kenyatta himself has described as Kenya’s third most powerful person. Before he moved to Interior, Dr Matiang’i had had an eventful, successful and impactful stint as Education CS.

LEGAL FREIGHT

Before then, he briefly held the Lands docket having started his Cabinet service at Information Communications and Technology in 2013.

Dr Swazuri is the chairman of the National Land Commission whose word on a title deed carries unrivalled legal freight, clout and finality.

Land, as a Kenyan academic long ago observed, is to Kenyans what security is to Israel.

Dr Swazuri is now a battle hardened holder of Kenya’s most important constitutional office having battled and outlived, among others, Mrs Charity Ngilu who as Lands CS constantly targeted and fought him. A veteran of the controversial Standard Gauge Railway land compensations, he does not shy away from a public spat.

Mr Mburu has been thrust into the public limelight because of the billions he is earning piecemeal from land he bought in 1981 for some Sh21 million.

RIGHT HAND MEN

That Parliament held two separate hearings on this matter helped focus attention especially on Dr Matiang’i. That his docket forbids him from dabbling in politics, yet security, education, land and information are political, makes him fair game for politicians.

Admired as the first among President Kenyatta’s equal right hand men and hated because of it; loved because of his commitment and diligence to work and loathed because of his success, Dr Matiang’i is fought, not by facts, but because of them.

Even the brush of graft taints with facts. Thus far, our super-duper scandal remains as real as a production of Vitimbi.

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