Storm over Ruto admission over Weston

Weston Hotel along Lang'ata road. [Photo: Edward Kiplimo].

Deputy President William Ruto's admission that Weston, sits on land that was acquired illegally by the person who sold it to the hotel, in which he has an interest, has kicked up a storm, with some people demanding he surrender the property to the State.

Minority Leader in the National Assembly John Mbadi said the DP should surrender the property since he had admitted that it was illegally acquired. Mr Mbadi said it was an offence to handle stolen property, thus Dr Ruto should be held accountable. 

"Ruto should stop feigning ignorance about the matter. Anybody acquiring a property are required to carry out due diligence. His admission confirms the kind of person he is. He should surrender the property as a matter of principle."

Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi said while the admission was welcome, the DP should go further and surrender the property to the Government.

"The confession by the DP is a positive step, but he should now hand it over to the Government to demonstrate good faith and integrity. But again, why did he have to take this long to make the confession? How many other properties in his possession were acquired in a similar manner? How many other leaders are enjoying illicit properties which they haven't declared? In other jurisdictions, Chapter 6 (on leadership and integrity) would have been invoked."

Speaking during BBC’s HARDtalk show with Stephen Sackur, Ruto for the first time admitted that the multi-million-shilling hotel was on land that belonged to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).

But Ruto defended Weston as an innocent buyer, arguing that it was the seller who had initially got the land illegally.

“Weston Hotel is a big story,” he said when asked about it by Mr Sackur.

“It was bought legally. The National Land Commission has made a finding that Weston was an innocent purchaser from somebody who got it illegally,” he said as he strove to absolve himself from blame.

“Reparations are being made constitutionally to restore the land to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority by demanding that those who sold the land to us must pay,” he added.

The saga surrounding the acquisition of the land on which Weston sits has dominated public debate for years. In January NLC released its findings, confirming that the land belonged to KCAA.

However, NLC in a surprise ruling said Ruto could keep the hotel but pay KCAA at market value to enable it to find an alternative land to build its headquarters, as it had planned to do so on the 0.7733 hectares.

"Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, having been restituted to its initial position, only then can the commission regularise the title to Weston Hotel," NLC said in the ruling seen to have saved Weston from going down.

This was contrary to the treatment of other illegally acquired public lands, where the Government has been swift to demolish structures.

Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu said the perception that the land on which Weston Hotel is built was illegally acquired has been floating around for ages. 

"Every time it was raised the answer would be that this is just a perception. Now we know that it was a fact. What I learn from this is that when Kenyans discuss or associate certain people or issues with corruption, we should not discard it as just a perception," Mr Wambugu said.  

But Tetu MP James Gichuhi noted that Ruto was legally a bona fide purchaser for value without notice.

"He's an innocent party who purchased a property without notice of any other party's claim to the title of that property and therefore holds a valid title," Mr Gichuhi argued. 

Soy MP Caleb Kositany said: “The big deal surrounding Weston is because it is DP William Ruto. If his name was removed, this matter would be silent.”

Mr Kositany said nobody had perused documentation on the Weston land, which he stated were all Government documents issued through the right procedure.

“All the documents the DP has are genuine, including the land title deed, and they were processed through the right Government procedures,” said Kositany.

Aldai MP Cornelly Serem said: “You have heard from the horse’s mouth that he bought it from someone else. At least all of us know that he acquired the land and that he was not the first owner. He never used his political influence but bought it legally. From sources, he was the third owner and those who have been doubting have heard from him. At some point, Nairobi used to belong to Kenya Railways and people should not make noise that he (Ruto) owns Government land.” 

Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono said: “Ruto bought the land. The people who were first allocated may have been given wrongly. Ruto is an innocent purchaser and his sentiments are the best route to take. Here is the man saying he does not know what happened. He does not say he is special. It is the best decision to make. The issue is compensation. The real owner will have to be compensated by those who sold the land. It is upon Kenya Airports Authority to say what compensation they require either in form of land or money. NLC, the custodian of land, should come out clearly into the matter.”

Ruto, in the interview, went ahead to explain that the land was just a small portion and not as big as people have been led to believe.

“For your information, Weston Hotel sits only on 0.7 hectares of land…, though many people would want to think that it occupies half of Nairobi,” he said.

The prime plot LR No. 209/14372 is located opposite Wilson Airport on Lang'ata Road and was formerly the site of the KCAA central stores.

NLC in January said that suspicious transactions led to transfer of the land belonging to KCAA.

The land, according to the report, was transferred to Priority Limited and Monene Investments Limited before it was sold to Weston Hotel, which is associated with the deputy president.

NLC established that before the transfer of the land it served as a storage site and KCAA had planned to set up its headquarters on the parcel. KCAA was alleged to been allocated another parcel in 2001 and surrendered the one on which the hotel sits.

Alternative land

It however emerged that the alternative piece given to KCAA belonged to the Meteorological Department.

The Auditor General's report for the 2015/2016 financial year showed that the Public Investments Committee had referred Weston transfer to the NLC for investigation with a view to restitution.

Asked by Sackur why people saw him as the epitome of corruption in regard to an opinion poll in August last year, Ruto said the corruption narrative had been politicised.

“If you look carefully at that Ipsos list which rated me as the most corrupt, that list did not only have William Ruto but other leaders such as a former president, the current president and former prime minister Raila Odinga. This will only tell you that the whole corruption story has been politicised,” he responded. Ruto claimed he was the only leader subjected to lifestyle audit, but when pressed to declare his worth, he declined to and asked Sackur to do his homework by visiting the Parliament’s website.