Annual reports by real estate firm HassConsult have indicated that land property businesses have been on the boom thanks to the ever-skyrocketing value of land.
Consequently, this has attracted more Kenyans to invest in real estate and own a piece of land majorly for commercial and speculation purposes in urban areas and farming in rural areas.
In Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa among other major towns, the appetite to own a piece of the land has been catapulted by desire to own homes as a result of high rental housing units.
Nonetheless, a close examination on Kenyan Counties reveals how rogue county bosses are using scrupulous means to stripoff land owned by multinationals who have invested in their respective counties.
The disturbing trend which is steadily manifesting itself shows that a number of governors are using suspicious means to invest in real estate where worrying land deals are signed under the table and agreements wrapped under the carpet.
Multinationals who own large tracks of land(where they seek land lease-renewal or approval of development plans) are their potential chief targets.
The investors are forced to offer kickbacks to few rogue county bosses for the aim of getting lease renewed or development plans approved.
How land politically influencing county politics
It turns out that land is a major player in county politics due to its precious value, owning large square miles of land adds weight on the governor’s finance coffer when it comes to campaign budgeting.
Land is a lucrative assert when politicians are seeking loans or instant cash for their campaign purposes, as a result some of the bosses have opted to go behind closed door boardroom meetings with multinational firm directors in bid to scramble for land that is legally owned by them.
Here is a list of suspected Kenyan governors leading scramble race for tracks of land owned by multinationals in their counties.
Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo
While still Kiambu boss, he played hardball tactics until he got a piece of large tracks of land owned by SOCFINAF Company Ltd.
SOCFINAF Company Ltd owned by multimillion foreign investors sits on more than 5000 acres of land in Kiambu county, near Thika Town.
Today Kabogo owns about 1000 acres of SOCFINAF land whose price has gone through the roof as plans to develop a modern multimillion city on the land takes shape.
The suspicious businessman claims to have‘kindly’ bargained a fair share of the land during when he was the sitting governor of Kiambu.
Also it is then the foreigners who own the land came for its land lease renew after buying the land previously owned by Belgians in 2007.
Whether he paid even a single cent for the 1000 acres of land remains fuzzy since there has never been a clear open audit records on how he bagged the massive acres.
Such moves meant to strengthen hisfinancial muscles will be massive in 2022 election. Combined with current Governor Ferdinand Waititu’s alleged poor performance in the county, Kabogo is silently plotting a huge mission to unseat Waituti even before 2022 comes calling.
Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu
When Waititu came in after 2017 elections,it was too late for him for the party and found Kabogo washing hands after being served with the 1000 acres from SOCFINAF Company Ltd
Waititu had to create his own party and moved fast for vulnerable Del Monte, an American juice manufacturer that holds 22,000 acres cutting across Kiambu and Murang’a counties.
After the hardball tactics, Waititu appended his signature and gave green light to the 8000 acres of land lying in his territory in Kiambu county, in the end 99 years of lease was renewed again.
The deal which was signed a year after his election happened on September 2018 and saw Del Monte surrender about 635 acres to the county.
However, questions have been hanging in the air over the exact amount of acres which were surrendered to the county after the suspicious deal took effect.
According to ThikaTown MP Patrick Wainaina, the exact acres surrendered to Waititu were more than 1000 acres.
Another leader who has gone a step further over the suspicious land deal between Waititu and Del Monte is Kiambu Women Rep Gathoni wa Muchomba
Through her complain filed at National Land Commission, Gathoni Wa Muchomba wants to be told how the deal between the county and the juice maker firm was arrived at and how many acres were given to Waititu.
Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria
Even though Del Monte has already reached a truce with Governor Waititu, they have still another long tussle to solve with Murang’a governor Mwangi Wa Iria who hosts about other 14,000 acres.
Unlike Waititu who played hardballs, Wa Iria is playing hard to get with Del Monte.
Wa Iria is demanding more than 3,000 acres before he signs the approval, forcing Del Monte to resort to court battles for their lease renewal.
In 2015, Del Monte told a court through their Managing Director Stergios Gkaliamoutsas that some of politicians in Murang’a demanded 3,000 for renewal of their lease expiring next year in 2019.
Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria claimed that he wanted to put up a county resort to generate funds for public use, but that was not assured in a county where title deedschange hands over night fall.
Rift Valley Governors
Governors in Rift Valley are also making life difficult for British and other foreign owned tea firms who need to renew their land lease.
They have taken the race to scramble to another notch higher, specifically governors from Nandi, Bomet and Kericho who are looking to acquire all lands owned by foreigners whose leases have expired.
As if that is not enough, they are seeking compensation from the British government for forcible eviction of local communities during the colonial era.
It is believed that many firms owned by foreigners in Rift Valley have had their leases already expiring and county administration are demanding the tracks to be surrendered to them.
Among them include James Finlay, Unilever and George Williamson.
Already Nandi Governor Stephen Sang and his Kericho counter Paul Chepkwony are seeking to have a large public company to manage these multinational tea firms.
Chepkwony and Sangare secretly using a script from Kiambu and Murang’a county, to have some chunks surrendered to them in exchange of lease.
Siaya Governor Cornell Rasanga
Siaya Governor Cornell Rasanga and NASA leader Raila Odinga are holding the future of Dominion firms owned by foreigners in Siaya County.
Dominion directors have claimed that ODM leader Odinga and Rasanga have been playing tough games such as extortion, violence and eviction threats in the past.
The American owned firm Dominion Farm came in Kenya’s Yala Swamp Basin in 2004.
This is after owner Calvin Burgess signed a 25 year lease of more than 17,000 acres of theswampland from Kenyan government in 2003.
In 2010, County Government already ate a cake of 900 acres, adding to 2,500 acres which had been taken by the community previously.
And things are not yet over for the US styled farm.
Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku
In November 2018, Tata Chemicals, formerly Magadi Soda tasted the bitter taste of Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku when they run into land rates running into billions of shillings.
The county government of Kajiado is already demanding Ksh17 billion in rates for 224,991 acres of land accumulated in a span of just 6 years.
County boss Lenku maintained that Tata Chemicals must pay full amount or face auction.
Ole Lenku is justified in demanding what’s due to the county,but his approach smacks of the arm-twisting tactics being used by his colleagues elsewhere to have the multinational managers by their balls.
Lenku’s demands puts aside other agreements made between the firm and other governments that existed before.
Also what the firm signed with former county boss remains fuzzy.
Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok
The moment President Uhuru Kenyatta signed deal to allow Tullow Oil to proceed with mining of famed Turkana oil, the firm went into silent war with Governor Nanok without announcement.
The cold war has been so intense that the drilling process has been paralyzed by political turmoil such as violent demonstrations
National government responded by gazetting Turkana Grievances Management Committee to spearhead grievances and reach a truce between the community and the American oil firm.
Through this arm-twisted committee, greedy county leaders can take advantage of the situation and award themselves with suspicious deals just like their fellows in other counties
