Ngilu links little-known family to Lang’ata land-grab

Land and Housing secretary Charity Ngilu on Thursday bowed to public pressure and named four individuals as directors of the firm linked to the controversial acquisition of Lang’ata Primary School playground.

The minister indicated that the controversial property is linked to Nairobi contractor Harbans Singh Amrit, who owns the largest stake in Airport View Housing Limited with 3,000 of the listed 5,000 shares.

He is best known as a politically connected Kanu-era contractor associated with a former president and a former vice president.

Ms Ngilu named other directors as Mandip Singh Amrit who holds 1,000 shares, Kamal Prakash Amrit with 1,000 shares and Manjit Singh Amrit who does not hold shares in the firm.

Apart from the shared surname, the four individuals also have common physical addresses according to information from the Registrar of Companies.

The letter from the registrar indicates that Land ministry only sought the details of the Airport View Housing ownership on January 20 on the day President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly reprimanded Ms Ngilu and National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Mohamed Swazuri for taking too long to resolve the Lang’ata land row.

Unconfirmed reports had linked a prominent politician to the illegal confiscation of the school playground.

Five children were on Monday injured during demonstrations to save the school from the alleged land grabber, sparking an outcry from the public against the use of excessive force by police, especially on pupils.

President Kenyatta criticised the officials in the wake of national outrage that greeted the use of teargas by police to disperse protesting pupils.

READ: Uhuru faults Ngilu and Swazuri on Lang'ata school row

The grabbing of the school property was made public in early January but received little official attention until right activists mobilised pupils to participate in the Monday protest.

Officials of both the City Hall and Land ministry later confirmed that the land is owned by the Lang’ata Primary School amid claims that the very offices cleared the private developer to build a security wall around it.

The NLC officials said Airport View Housing Limited had apparently acquired two title deeds for the plots 1989 and 1994. The documents were said to have been issued by officials of City Hall and Land ministry.

Airport View moved to court last week seeking to stop Lang’ata Road Primary School from encroaching on the land.

On Wednesday, Interior secretary Joseph Nkaissery also appeared to criticise his Cabinet colleague when he warned of “consequences from her employer,” if Ms Ngilu failed to provide names behind Lang’ata land grab.

The four individuals named Thursday fell short of the big “names behind names” that Ms Ngilu had previously promised to release after investigations of the land’s status.

On Wednesday, the Transition Authority raised the red flag over increasing cases of land grabbing targeting property belonging to educational institutions.

The agency chairperson Kinuthia Wamwangi said land grabbers were increasingly targeting early childhood centres, primary and secondary schools, polytechnics and colleges.  

“Emerging evidence seems to suggest that strict oversight is needed to curb and thwart incidents of land grabbing,” said Mr Wamwangi, adding that county assemblies must urgently pass laws to address the menace.