Monday 19th was a field day for many; primary school pupils, police, teachers, activists, land grabbers and Kenyans in the quest to get primary school land back to it’s rightful owners. Land grabbing in Kenya is quite a volatile topic with very powerful individuals conniving with peers in administrations to snatch land from the deserving owners.
This was about Langata Road Primary school whose playground was at the centre of things. Reports have it that the playground belongs to the school, something which has since been confirmed by various government agencies, but already had an apparent owner “from way back”. With allegations that forces behind grabbing the parking lot and ownership of Weston Hotel Nairobi, the hotel by extension got the wrath of Kenyans online.
Now “crime by association” not the situation per se as a city lawyer has since come out publicly to declare that the two are not associated, Weston Hotel allegedly stood to gain by the land grab where the hotel was to get a parking lot. See tweets by the city lawyer stating who the actual owners of Weston Hotel are, separate from the “owners” of the playground, Airport View Housing Limited.
@MohaJichoPevu Patrick osoro is the chairman and majority shareholder and my good client.
— Ahmednasir Abdullahi (@ahmednasirlaw) January 19, 2015
@MohaJichoPevu my office file has all directors.Some kenyans hate the deputy president so much they plant him at the scene of every scandal — Ahmednasir Abdullahi (@ahmednasirlaw) January 19, 2015
Something which was disputed by a CORD opposition party co-principal Moses Wetangula.
Lawyer Ahmednassir says Ruto has nothing to do with Weston Hotel. Go tell it to the birds!! Kenyans are no fools.
— Sen.Moses Wetang’ula (@Wetangulam) January 20, 2015
Kenyans went HAM on the hotel claiming that it was owned by a government stalwart and reviews on Tripadvisor echo their frustration. This also included comments below for those who couldn’t wait for their review to be moderated.
The reviewers naturally consider this their way to fight back at “powers that be” to get close to even, since even the land at which the hotel stands is in ownership dispute with claim that it was actually owned by the government.