Airgate/Taj Mall MD Ramesh Gorasia has told the government should destroy the building if it wants to but that “God is watching”.
Occupants of the mall have until August 30 to vacate the premises ahead of its demolition.
“If they want to continue, God is there for them. [National Land Commission chair Muhammad] Swazuri has messed my life. Look at his life … it’s a mess … whoever wants to mess my life, its okay. God will punish them,” he said. “I will just go to court and ask for my claim. It might take years but it’s okay.”
“The mall has been unlucky for me for the past five years [sic] … I am tired of demolitions everyday … Demolish it. Who cares? I will just get my money. If not today, my grandchildren will [sic],” he said.
He added: “Please, if you want to demolish it, clear it. Don’t damage it, just bring it down … if you don’t have the money to demolish it then don’t do it. KURA has not been able to demolish it for the last five years. Now some stupid agency has been created to frustrate investors in the country.
“I am shocked that we have professionals who do it deliberately or innocently. When you talk about public land, it is leased land. We pay rent to the government.”
He however, pleaded with President Uhuru Kenyatta to reconsider the move, saying the structure could be used as a school.
“My President, don’t demolish it because it does not affect the road. [It can be for public use]. It’s a strong building that can last long.”
The mall was officially opened on August 1, 2011 by then Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and is reportedly valued at Sh5.5 billion.
Anonymous says
“ALL BLACK AFRICANS ARE STUPID”! THIS IS THE VIEW HELD BY THIS COMMUNITY SINCE THEIR ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICAN!
THEY WERE BROUGHT HERE BY THE BRITISH AS THE LABORERS IN THE BUILDING OF KENYA-UGANDA RAILWAYS, AND THEY CHOSE TO STAY! MANY OF THEM HAD RETAIL SHOPS IN RURAL KENYA UNTIL 12/12/1963! THIS WOULD IMPLY THAT THEY WERE THE VEHICLES THROUGH WHOM KENYA WAS GOVERNED!
THEY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR DARK SKIN PEOPLE, INCLUDING THOSE IN INDIA, BANGLADESH OR THOSE BLACK PEOPLE IN ANDAMAN ISLANDS IN THE BAY OF BENGAL WHO HAVE LIVED THERE FOR OVER 60,000 YEARS!!
THEY WANT TO ELIMINATE THEM!
Kwesi says
If he considers our institutions “stupid”, why didn’t he invest his money in australia, new zealand or canada, or india, where they end up taking their money anyway?
Such arrogance cannot be tolerated in kenya, in the 21st century.
Kenya is not Andaman Islands where they’re enslaving blacks!!!
Anonymous says
THE KENYAN RULING ELITES HAVE BEEN LICKING THE BUTTS OF THIS COMMUNITY FOREVER WHILE THEY ARE HELL-BENT ON KEEPING THE POWERLESS LOCAL CITIZENS POOR!
THEY ARE THE VEHICLES THROUGH WHOM THE FOREIGN TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL APARATUSES HAVE BEEN VERY EFFECTIVE IN MARGINALIZING BLACK PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!
AND THEY ARE THRILLED AT DOING IT BECAUSE THE LOW IQ KENYAN RULING ELITES, WHO ARE GETTING INSANELY WEALTHY BY PARTICIPATING IN THE LOOTING OF EVERY RESOURCE IN KENYA AND AFRICA AT LARGE, HAVE BEEN CAPTURED TOTALLY BY THAT COMMUNITY AND HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT THEY HAVE A COUNTRY AND A PEOPLE TO PROTECT!
THEY ARE HELL-BENT ON DESTROYING FARMERS, FISHERMEN AND ANY INDEPENDENT HARD WORKING KENYAN WHO WOULD DO NOT WISH TO WORK FOR SLAVE WAGES! ALL RESOURCES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY FOREIGN INTERESTS (INVESTORS) WITH THE BLESSING OF THE KENYAN RULING ELITES!! THEY ARE THE MIDDLEMEN!
KENYANS DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN SLUMS SO THAT THEY CAN BECOME SLAVES OR BEGGARS OF FOREIGN AIDS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY!!! THERE IS NO NEED FOR HARD WORKING KENYANS TO BECOME BEGGARS!!
Anonymous says
Because LOW IQ AFRICANS ARE AUCTIONING KENYAN LAND TO GET WEALTHY!!
THE INDIAN COMMUNITY HAS CONNECTIONS WITH WHITE SUPREMACISTS WHICH HAS MADE THEM THE TOOLS FOR EXPLOITING KENYA THROUGH THE RULING ELITES BY MEANS OF STATE CAPTURE!
DID YOU READ HOW JACOB ZUMA WAS CAPTURED BY THE GUPTA BROTHERS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE CORRUPTION THEY INTRODUCED THAT SPREAD LIKE WILD FIRES AMONG THE SOUTH AFRICAN ANC RULING ELITES?
GOOGLE “THE GUPTA BROTHERS IN SOUTH AFRICA”! YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO KENYAN RULING ELITES SINCE 12/12/1963!
WHEN THESE COMMUNITY CAPTURES ANY AFRICAN NATION, THE DESTRUCTION WILL BE FINAL!!
kimos says
Asians in Kenya have been corrupting every government of the day to carry out fraudulent activities in the name of business.today they are into even hawking business.go to parkland,Highridge you name them they have turned them to little India.kudos uhuru Muigai kenyatta our beloved presy don’t bend to their stupidity
Anonymous says
THE SUPREMACISTS WANT TO LABEL THE SENTINELESE PEOPLE OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS AS “DANGEROUS PEOPLE” BECAUSE THEY ARE DARK SKINNED AND HAVE NOT CHANGED THEIR WAYS OF LIFE!
THE SENTINELESE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER VENTURED OUTSIDE THEIR ENVIRONMENT TO ATTACK ANY SUPREMACISTS! THEY HAVE LIVED IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT FOR OVER 60,000 YEARS!
SO, WHY ARE THEY DANGEROU?? , DANGEROUS TO WHO???
Anonymous says
I feel for him…. if they want to demolish go ahead stop threatening and threatening
Kenneth Barasa says
As much as there is political goading in this country, the president is trying to end impunity which is the order of the day here.
Anonymous says
HE HAS GATHERED AWARM OF DARK SKINNED CITIZENS WHO HE HAS SPENT HIS LIFE TIME IN KENYA MARGINALIZING!
JUST PAY THEM A FEW KENYAN SHILLINGS, LIKE THE AMOUNT DOLED OUT TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT THE OTHER DAY, AND THEY ARE READY TO FIGHT, BLEED AND DIE PROTECTING HIM!!!
THIS IS HOW THE SYSTEM IN KENYA IS SET UP;: USE THEIR OWN PEOPLE TO REDUCE AND DEFEAT THEM!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt_j4j2Isok
BLACKS ARE GOING TO KILL BLACKS IN ORDER TO DEFEND THIS GUY BECAUSE HE HAS ENOUGH CASH TO BUY THEM!!!
HE IS ABOVE THE LAW!
Anonymous says
CORRECTION!
THE WORD “AWARM ” SHOULD BE “A SWARM”!
Gervas Kimani says
My President Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta,go unperturbed and destroy impunity in our beautiful Kenya. Save our Children from these corrupt Kenyans and foreigners !!- Are there Kenyan investors in In Asia ?
Anonymous says
U can’t own or do business in India leave a lone staying there freely especially blacks. The most racist country is India. Na wamejaa kwao kama siafu. Wakija hapa kwetu kenya watu wa hali ya juu. See what is happening to sentinelese, reason that are are black, so they belong to Africa. Wajinga hawa.
onyi says
people blamed Iddi Amin, now I have seen what Amin saw. so please tell this Indian Uhuru is our President no Kenyan has ever abused Indian prime minister ever. so give us s break.
Joshua says
These Indians are very greedy! imaging in their industries at inda, few offers technical attachments to our youths from technical institutions. most of them don’t allow though they have the capacity. It’s time our systems shows them how to leave with Kenyans.
Anonymous says
Beatrice Syokau Kathumba, the mother of two women laying claim to the airport land. She died in 2014. [Courtesy]
East Africa’s busiest airport is facing a huge challenge from two peasant sisters claiming more than 6,000 acres of the land that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) sits on. In documents seen by Sunday Standard, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) is fighting Litha Katumbi and Amina Mbula, daughters of a woman whose mysterious death four years ago will be a subject of an inquest at the Makadara Law Courts on Tuesday.
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The two sisters are laying claim to the 6,736.925 acres along Mombasa Road in Nairobi. If entertained by National Land Commission (NLC)’s committee on resolution of historical land injustices, the matter will affect 58 other local and international companies situated in the area besided JKIA. KAA has rejected the family’s claim to more than half the land JKIA sits on, saying the government had compulsorily acquired the 27 parcels measuring 2,694 hectares (6,736.925 acres) in 1968.
The aviation authority is the registered owner of Land Reference Number 21919 contained in Grant Number IR 70118 which was issued on July 26, 1996 and which measures 4,674.60 hectares (11,679 acres). On July 17, 2018, KAA Managing Director Johnny Andersen denied the claims in a letter to family lawyer, E W Kamuyu and Company advocates, who had demanded answers on November 17, 2017. “The subject parcel forms part of the land within the confines and boundaries of the authorities parcel, LR no 21919 which the authority has erected the JKIA.
By Gazette notices nos 1105 and 1106 of April 30, 1971, the government proceeded to compulsorily acquire, interalia, the subject parcels and all other parcels of land mentioned in that gazette notice,” Andersen writes. In the Gazete notice number 1105 of April 30, 1971, the government invoked the Land Acquisition Act, 1968 and gave notice to the owners of its intention to acquire 27 parcels of land measuring 2694.77 hectares. In the subsequent notice number 1106, the government invited the owners of the affected pieces of land to to appear in the board room of Lands office then located at Harambee Avenue for the hearing of claims for compensations. According to Andersen, Beatrice Syokau Kathumba, the women’s mother, had filed petition 1 of 2012 against KAA claiming ownership which was rejected by the High Court on November 19, 2012.
ALSO READ: KRA seizes narcotics at JKIA
However, Litha and Amina say the suit had not been filed by their mother but by a decoy so that the court could be used to legitimise the hiving away of their land. At that time, the sisters say their mother had gone missing and had reported her disappearance to the police. Interestingly, it was while the family was looking for her all over the country that a petition was filed by one Beatrice Syokau Gathumba on January 4, 2012 against KAA, the Commissioner for Lands and the Attorney General.
In the petition, Syokau says the original title of the land she was pursuing was issued in July 1, 1917, for a term of 999 years but was later acquired by Laura Ellen Woodley who employed Syokau’s husband Kathumba as her manager. The petition was however dismissed by Justice Isaac Lenaola who ruled that the petitioner had not produced original documents to prove her case.
In the course of the hearing, it emerged that Navadas Damodar bought the land in 1964 for Sh7,000. Syokau had countered that her husband had bought the entire piece of land for 700 cows and goats from the estate of the white settler. Litha and Amina shocked NLC’s committee last Thursday when they detailed how their family had lost the land through a complex web of fraud and deception. The plot, according to documents presented to the NLC, took a nasty turn in 2010 when the matriarch, Beatrice Syokau Kathumba, was reportedly abducted from her home near Cabanas along Mombasa Road and held incommunicado.
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They finally traced her four years later after they were tipped that she was admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and was critically ill. She died on July 3, 2014. After her death, the burial permit was allegedly given to the people accused of abducting and causing her death, triggering a row which has delayed her burial for four years.
Structures which once housed her big herd still dot her compound, where there are 54 semi permanent houses now being rented out by one of the groups entangled in the case. The cause of her death is given as cardio respiratory arrest due to aspiration pneumonia.
Several autopsies had to be conducted on the body after the family suspected that some pathologists had been compromised. At one point, a ‘total stranger’ who the Kathumba’s say was not a kinsman, claimed he had been granted the power of attorney by the deceased. In her pursuit for her land in 1997, Syokau submitted her title deed NA/A5/04/145 under registry map sheet 194 dated July 20, 1997 and thereafter sought approval for subdivision from the Landsministry. She paid for these services on November 4, 2004 vide receipt number 923365. She was however shocked to discover that some of the land had been registered to a stranger, Peter Ndeti. The widow then reported the loss of her title deeds numbers for LR numbers, 7075/37149/9,463, 4513, 4512, 324, 2903 and 212, vide OB number 37/10/11/016.
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When the matter was investigated by the CID, Alex Ndambu, an officer based in Embakasi, wrote to the Commissioner of Lands showing that Syokau was tricked by some officers at the Ministry of Lands who issued her with a fake title deed. Legitimate owner His letter stated: “I have found out that this land belongs to Beatrice Syokau Kathemba.
Most of the land has been grabbed and I find it better the remaining land be served in her name of and title deed issued respectively.” A District Officer in Embakasi, MN Hassan, also made similar conclusion in a letter to the Ministry of Lands on April 13, 2007 stating that Syokau was the legitimate owner of the land. Acting on behalf of the Lands commissioner, SG Gikonyo informed DC Embakasi that his office was trying to assist Syokau and asked the provincial administration to prevent further encroachment. During Thursday’s hearing, the family tabled documents to show that the Commissioner for Lands and City Council of Nairobi had validated their mother’s ownership of the land and had even granted her approval to subdivide it. At the same time, the NLC on June 12,2015 indicated that Syokau had been pursuing compensation for LR no. 7075/3 hich was taken by KAA. The letter, signed by ZM Ndege, reads in part: “The acquisition was done without consideration of the existence of Beatrice Syokau Kathumba who has been seeking for compensation but without success.”
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Built-up area Ndege observed that although the land was taken for the extension of Nairobi Airport, Syokau was left on the land without any interfer
Anonymous says
1. THE WESTON HOTEL AS THE PROVERBIAL ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
First, who is in the situation room? We are talking the nerve and control centre of the anti-corruption war, the one declared and championed by none other than the commander in chief himself, HE Muigai the Kenyatta!?
Our well, just say three musketeers are, who else but DPP Noordin Haji, DCI George Kinoti, and DGI Philip the Kameru. (This is quite a statement on their formers: Keriako Tobiko, Ndegwa Muhooro and James Gichangi! The LOOK-THE-OTHER WAY GROUP!)
NB: Forget Lawyer Mwangi and ex-spyman Kimani and the rest of that other cast which includes the HANDSHAKE likes of Dr. Adams Oloo and other journeymen, and of course, the token, occasional flower girl.
No, we are talking a real situation room, the room of heat!
I think like this: in this situation room where the DPP, DCI and DGI strands (or organs of state) confluence, each man is anxiously looking behind his back.
WHY?
Each is calculating thus: suppose I go flat out for William Ruto on, eg, the stolen public land where his illegal and criminal Weston Hotel is in occupation, only for the move to backfire as the political or personal price for Uhuru becomes too much!?
Suppose Ouru caves in, backs Ruto and The Hustler becomes president and commander in chief in 2022 after the elections!? -What, pray tell O fates, does he do to me Haji, me Kinoti, me Kameru!?
Wont it be Woe, O Woe be I!? –uuuuuwiiiii!
Woe be I Haji! woe be I Kinoti! woe be I Kameru!
Yes, it is a situation room, and every soldier surveying the battlefield knows vindu vichenjanga! The war on corruption could end with a whimper, William Ruto holding all the cards!? No!?
And then!? Each of our musketeers knows the fears of his own heart best!
Currently I know I am not seeing our three musketeers going all out, burning all bridges behind, holding sword in a come-what-may, Horatio, victory or death at the bridge, suicidal if need be stand. So I know they are calculating, weighing escape routes, the odds, working personal plan-B’s! Suppose ….
Wherefore I must tell a cultural story.
It begins like this: The name is Mwangi, Bonnyface Mwangi, and you never heard of him. But little Bonny does not squirm like our three musketeers before Ruto’s cold gaze. You know every Goliath his David.
Anonymous says
Mr. Erdogan had Qatar up his sleeve… Imagine that! Fifteen billion is nothing to sneeze at, and it is way more than Saudi Arabia ever did for Egypt during its financial crunches, usually putting money on deposit in the national bank, which could be withdrawn.
Qatar seems to be repaying the favor when Turkey helped it break the Saudi-coalition blockade on Qatar, even sending troops there. We will see if Trump sanctions Qatar, but no one is holding their breath on that one.
We will have to see if Qatar might do the same for Pakistan, also in need of capital to revive the country. Gordon’s Imran Kahn and the Silk Road piece is now number one on NEO, having built an audience since the 9th, but where back here in the states Google has its foot on the VT-reads brake pedal.
We are used to the ups and downs, but soldier on regardless. These are busy times. Mr. Trump has given us that, if nothing else. Where it will eventually end is anyone’s guess, but I fear it will get worse before it gets better…
Anonymous says
kwani passaris iko na hili kitu?Washeni kumharibia jina kama ni mapenzi sorry mates. tafuta wengine yake tumeziba.
Chebet says
Watafute mganga kama huyu naskia hatari wa Nakuru, DrEvans.
Read him online and he is praised by people, http://httpdrevans.WordPress.com