Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Omollo on July 24, 2018, 05:40:35 PM
-
Former Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and PS Belio Kipsang disregarded the ministry's internal report to authorise Sh1.5 billion payments for the controversial Ruaraka land, it has been revealed.
Fresh documents tabled in Parliament yesterday show that a team appointed by the Ministry of Education to investigate the land’s ownership had concluded that the parcel occupied by Ruaraka High School and Drive-In Primary was public.
The report by the Quality Assurance and Standards task force was submitted to Matiang'i and Kipsang on February 3, 2017 — 11 months before the duo approved payment of Sh1.5 billion to city businessman Francis Mburu.
This was part of Sh3.2 billion that the government had agreed to pay before the scandal burst into the public spotlight.
According to the report, the land was surrendered for public use by Drive-In Estate, a sister company to Afrison Import Export Limited, as a mandatory condition for subdivision of the 96-acre piece of land.
Read:Sh3bn Ruaraka land was acquired in haste, CS Amina tells MPs in probe
“From the documents availed from the school, it was evident that the surrender of a portion of land for a primary and secondary school for public utility was mandatory for approval of subdivision of the Housing Scheme,” the assessment report concluded.
“The panel thus established that the Ruaraka High school and Drive-In-Estate Primary school was established on public utility land surrendered by Drive-In-Estate and registered by the Survey of Kenya as schools' plot.”
The five-man team headed by Nairobi Regional Coordinator of Education John Ololtuaa concluded that Mburu has no basis whatsoever to seek compensation for the land.
“Having been surrendered portion of land for the public utility, the panel's view was that the claimant has no basis for compensation for the land,” the assessment report concluded matter settled once and for all,” the report stated.
The team recommended that chairman of the National Lands Commission Muhammad Swazuri and Matiang'i should hasten the processing of the school land documents to protect the property from grabbing or encroachment.
The team said Ruaraka High School occupied 7.6 acres as per the letter of allotment Ref. No 108096/57 dated June 28, 1999.
In fact, the school paid Sh3,566 for the allotment letter issued in 1999.
Read:Ruaraka land broker turns state witness
“The adjacent national government learning institution was Drive-In Estate Primary School, a public primary school, whose land ownership documents, as was reported, were held in trust by the Nairobi City County, as was expected of land documents of all public primary schools in Nairobi,” the report states.
But just a month after the report was submitted, Matiang'i wrote to Swazuri to kick-start the acquisition of the land, which he termed “private”.
“The Ministry of Education has determined that it's necessary to acquire all that piece of land on which the two respective institutions named above are situated. I therefore formally request the National Land Commission to commence the process leading to the acquisition of the private land,” his letter stated.
Matiangi’s letter was prompted by a letter written by Swazuri to Kipsang advising that under the Constitution, it is only the minister who can request the commission to acquire land.
Matiangi’s letter dated March 17, 2017, triggered the process leading to the compensation. It was followed by a legal opinion authored by Attorney General Githu Muigai on June 29, 2017, in which he stated that Afrison had declined the condition for subdivision of the land on April 3, 1984.
Yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed appeared to pass the buck back to Matiang'i, her predecessor, faulting the ministry for not following through with the recommendations of the report.
“After the process was initiated by the National Lands Commission, a team was sent out to verify facts on the ground. The team came back with a report. The recommendations entailed in the report were not fully followed,” Amina told the Senate Public Accounts committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang.
On Thursday last week, the Star exclusively reported how the officials — Matiang'i, Kipsang and Swazuri — ignored a court order stopping compensation for the land to Afrison.
Also Read:Lands boss Swazuri ‘to be charged’ over Ruaraka land scandal
Activist Okiya Omtatah had filed a petition in November 2016, objecting to what he termed as “unjust enrichment by Afrison Import Export and Huelands Limited from numerous payments made by the State for multiple acquisition of LR No. 7879/4.”
The High Court had granted an injunction on December 13, 2016, which remains intact to date.
In her submission to the Senate committee, Amina said she could not understand why the payment was made in haste.
She said she did not consider the payments an emergency that necessitated they be factored into a supplementary budget.
“The letter that we received from the National Lands Commission said that we should urgently compensate for this piece of land. When I read that letter, I had the same question in my mind; that these schools had been in the land for 30 years, why was it so urgent to compensate?” she asked.
“I have not had any discussion with those who were in office then to find out why there was urgency for compensation. Maybe as per that time there was certain urgency in addressing the issue. I was not in office at that time,” she said.
Last month, the National Assembly Lands Committee, which investigated the matter, concluded that the process of acquiring the parcel was fraudulent and hinted at collusion by top Ministry of Education, Treasury and NLC officials to swindle the taxpayer.
-
Yes - but Matiangi will survive. He is too powerful to be brought down now.
-
Nobody is too powerful to be brought down. Look at Ruto. I agree that he is still a useful idiot, but that will end and he will be discarded.
Yes - but Matiangi will survive. He is too powerful to be brought down now.
-
They can always take him out or reshuffle him to one of those useless ministry or create one for him then fire him...no one is indispensable. ....
Uhuru is on the cusp of being the greatest president in Kenya history. If he slay corruption beast am sure Kenyans will give him a third term just like American did to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
-
Al shabaab is fighting terror for us
We have Haji on one side and now Amina
I like
-
The problem is the EACC. Matiangi and others have found they can corrupt them. The EACC keeps sending the fike to Hajji with serious deliberate flaws. Unlike Tobiko, he returns the file with specific demands. They meet some of the demands but create new issues. He sends it back.
I think Uhuru does not want to dirty his hands. He has left it to Hajji to do his thing. The day Hajji gets a sustainable case, he will move to arrest the bastard.
I think the bribery approach will in the end sink Matiangi quite deep. That is because every time the file is returned either way, the case against him becomes stronger. In reality there are no more loopholes on Matiangi file. It is the sneaky businessman who is putting up a hard fight. In the end I see one or other of the present or past land officials appearing in the dock along with the entire horde.
Hajji has even improved on the charges by filling in the gaps that Wako and Tobiko used to create making proof harder. I am only missing the portion about Obstruction (to use the American term as the British equivalent: perversion is more general) of justice. This will scare those who forge documentation and backdate events to save thieves. I see that as one of the main problems. I think a law encompassing the shredding or altering of documents post facto would slow the thieves and their helpers. I have confidence in Hajji. I didn't at first thinking he was another Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed.
Al shabaab is fighting terror for us
We have Haji on one side and now Amina
I like
-
Amina is a loyalist who knows which side of the bread is currently buttered. I think she would throw anybody under the bus if she divined what Uhuru's face means that morning. She is totally clueless and lacks a backbone. Just good looks.
Al shabaab is fighting terror for us
We have Haji on one side and now Amina
I like
-
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/07/27/im-going-slow-on-nys-ruaraka-to-make-them-watertight-dpp-haji-says_c1793759
Investigations into the Sh8 billion NYS scandal will be completed before the end of the year, DPP Noordin Haji has said.
Haji said his office is going slow on the probe to ensure they have a watertight case that will lead to conviction.
“The investigations on NYS started before I took office and it has so far taken six months but we are hoping to close the case by end of this year,’Haji said.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Thursday, Haji also revealed he had returned the Ruaraka land file to the EACC for further interrogation.
He said the NYS suspects are answering charges on the loss of only Sh1billion but there is more to do for the remaining Sh 8billion.
"The investigation is very broad as it involves many players such as banks and individuals, I'm taking my time because I don't want to fail," he said.
He said the call to arrest the first bunch of suspects came after they realised that more funds would have been lost if the suspects had remained in office.
Read;Court lowers bail for NYS suspects
“It’s a pity that people can take public coffers money and misuse it. If I hadn’t moved in quick the looting would have continued,” Haji said.
On the prosecution of some banks involved in the scandal, Haji said they will be let off with a fine of only Sh1 million.
"I will be seeking amendment for stiffer penalties," he said.
On the Ruaraka land saga, Haji assured Kenyans that Cabinet secretaries and anyone involved in the land saga will be arrested.
He said that there was a case to answer by those mentioned hence the need to tie some loose ends.
Read:Francis Mburu arrested over Ruaraka land Sh1.5b payments
He added that those accused are powerful people and if the case is weak it will be thrown out.
“I am saying there is a case and a strong case and I want it tight so it can stand in court as the accused are powerful and I do not want to fail or bring a shaky case that can be poked holes,” he added.
-
It obvious this was huge fraud. So turns out Drive Inn Estates actually surrended the land and then Francis Mburu later went to court.
-
Not sure what to make of this statement that implicates everyone
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KvKvsX81M0Lus2qwNMVCjOHJxNa8fgC5/view?usp=drivesdk
-
There is a lot of truth in that. Frank Mburu has sold and resold that land to gov and it's parastalals so many times. That Jaluo man got 10M from Mburu - so obviously they've been in business together.
But so far it appears facts are as follows.
1) 1982- Mburu two companies buy 96 acres from Jotham
2) 1983 - Mburu two companies want the land subdivided into two so they can build an estate
3) 1984 - Mburu registers a new company Drive In Estate - accepts those demands - and curve out the land for Primary & Secondary & etc.
4) 1980s - Mburu's Drive In Estate goes into a deal with Posta to build estate for it's workers. His fails to complete and title is held as security by the Bank receiver.
5) 1990s - The two schools proceed to register their title. They have titles.
Post Moi era - Mburu goes into a bribery and fraud frenzy - forging papers, remove paper trails, bribing lawyers & judges, and we are now in a fine mess.
I think this classic case that illustrate the complexity of fighting crime in country where everyone is a criminal. To prosecute Mburu - you need to bring in so many people.
Not sure what to make of this statement that implicates everyone
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KvKvsX81M0Lus2qwNMVCjOHJxNa8fgC5/view?usp=drivesdk
-
Also Mburu could just be con or proxy. The bank that financed purchase and development on this land was owned by a Mr. Wahome. Continental Bank that went under was owned by Wahome.
This bank went under with public money and held Mburu title as a security - so essential Mburu land is public land. Gov appointed a receiver who upto date owns the title of "Mburu" land - a land he lost when he defaulted on loan - receiver need to get Mburu assets and pay the likes of NSSF their dues.
Trouble seemed to have begun in the first week of June 1986 when Phillip Wahome’s Continental Group was thrown out of the clearing house, a signal that the bank was in financial trouble.
Wahome, then an ally of Vice-President Mwai Kibaki, whose political might was waning, was arrested by CID and questioned.
On August 7, 1986, as Moi was issuing his warning, Continental Credit Finance Limited and Continental Bank of Kenya Limited were placed in receivership even as Wahome protested that the bank was not in trouble.
The winding-up petition against Continental Credit Finance was made by NSSF after it failed to pay Sh75 million and accrued interest of Sh22,839,720.
The deposits had been made between June 16, 1982, and May 23, 1984. The petition against Continental Bank was brought by the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) due to defaulting on repayment of a Sh33,I85,709 debt.
A High Court judge, Mr Justice Frank Shields, appointed a government official receiver to be the interim liquidator of both financial institutions following two successful applications by NBK and NSSF.
The closure of Continental Bank and Continental Credit Finance caused panic in the market.
Many depositors with indigenous banks and financial institutions, fearing the fate that befell the Continental Group — which owned Nairobi’s Continental House (now housing offices of MPs) — might spread to their own, made massive withdrawals, sending the whole industry reeling.
-
The more you think about then it become clear mburu was wahome proxy to avoid inside lending traps..start a bank, get deposits and loan yourself money to buy and develop property.The Luo whistle blower is 100% on money and he deserve an award for saving public money.Mburu lost his "property" when wahome collapsed with public money and his title as a collateral.
-
Pundito,
I watched Swazuri and everything he said made sense (on paper)
Mburu or his masters covered all their tracks across three administrations and it’s just about impossible to stop him right now. He will win any case you throw at him now without bribing anyone. Think of it as money laundering. The moment money enters into the banking system and changes hands severally,yo can’t touch it without offending everyone.
-
Mburu will face one major problem: The inherited colonial bureaucracy. Those old civil servants - the last batch of which left government service in the very early 90s were wizards. It is only that fact alone that has even seen him on his defence.
The last time someone tried to steal land my father bought years ago, he ran into trouble because he needed 11 different people to sign a forgery and thus make it valid post facto. They easily forged the signatures of the dead but ran in to hard wind when it came to the old men and one woman still alive. They also knew how to protect themselves from cartels. To my surprise, they did keep some files away from the thieves by filing under different names and keeping them in the same mess.
Mburu ran in to that kind of problem when trying to destroy evidence of him having given away any land.
But on Matiangi: He had no basis to make a decision ignoring the opinion of the ministry's bureaucrats. I can't see any way he can escape other than by political means.
Vooke, Mburu is lying his ass hot. Hajji has enough evidence but he wants it airtight.