Late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua's Family Fights to Save Sh1.2 Billion Nairobi Building from Demolition
The late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua's family has moved to court to block the government's intention to demolish a building in Nairobi whose value is estimated at Sh1.2 billion.
Gachagua, who passed away in February 2017, constructed the building in 2009 after purchasing the land where it sits a year earlier.
The National Land Commission (NLC) says the residential apartments stand on a road and railway reserve and wants the property flattened.
The family, led by Gachagua's younger brother Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira MP) has however opposed government bid to reclaim the 1.2 acre property along Nairobi’s Southern Bypass.
Until his death, the late Governor who succumbed to cancer had been fighting in court efforts by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to demolish the structures after they were marked for removal.
KeNHA has maintained that the land where the 80 apartments sit had been reserved for road and railway expansion in the 1980s. In July 2017, NLC revoked the land's title deed clearing the way for KeNHA to demolish the building.
In court documents, Rigathi Gachagua says that NLC revoked the title deed of the land where the property sits without giving them an opportunity to be heard.
Nine people who purchased some of the apartments also joined the suit, and argue that they would suffer huge losses if demolition is okayed. The Lang'ata property was one of the most valuable of the late Nyeri Governor Gachagua’s multi-billion shilling estate.
Comments (4)
Demolish it without mercy. Give them 14 days to vacate the land. Nobody is above the law. It is on road and railway reserve. Corruption is paying big and they are filling the pain.
Many comments here reek of, or are motivated by jealousy, malice, racism or all the above.No one but the NLC/KenHa knows the process by which it arrived at the conclusion that the structures marked for demolition are illegal, and this can only be verified by a court challenge, given the fact that NLC or KENHA may themselves be infected by the corruption virus so endemic in our beautiful but miserable country. Years of alienation and deprivation of a large section of the Kenyan population has created a pervasive jealousy and bitterness to anyone who appears wealthy and in particular the AsiaKenyans, regardless of the efforts and sacrifices that those individuals have spent, hence the rush to celebrate any news of an impending demolition. This celebration pours forth from these bitter mouths regardless of the fact that the end sufferers are the simple guys who lose employment, and the financiers whose loan don't get repaid, with the resultant increase in crime and interest rates which eventually impacts the very people celebrating the demolitions. And by the way, I am NOT a property owner anywhere. Thak you.
Who is jealousy, malice, racism or all the above of the grabbed land? All land grabbers are in the same category with Wanugu. They are all thieves. Nairobi has been flooding lately because of people building wrong places and preventing the the flow of rain water.
You seem to have missed the essence of my argument. Should I repeat it in simpler language for your benefit? Thanks