Economy

Gachagua kin in line for massive payout from NLC

gachagua

Former Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The National Land Commission (NLC) has started the process of paying the family of the late Nyeri governor Nderitu Gachagua for his land that the government is acquiring to expand the Nairobi Southern Bypass.

The payout is expected to be in hundreds of millions of shillings. The commission, in a Kenya Gazette notice, has invited parties interested in the family’s investment vehicle Vipingo Beach Resort Limited – which owns the 0.5198 acre plot — to file claims for compensation on or before April 3.

“Every person interested in the affected land is required to deliver to the National Land Commission on or before the day of inquiry a written claim to compensation, copy of National Identity Card (ID), Personal Identification NO. (PIN), land ownership documents and bank account details,” the commission said in the notice.

Gachagua had an 89.94 per cent stake in the property located in Nairobi’s South C estate. Some 80 apartments were built on the land and will be demolished once the owners have been compensated.

Susan Nderitu owns a 10 per cent stake in the company, the governor’s brother Rigathi Gachagua has a 0.01 per cent interest while a Mr Kenneth Gachagua owns 0.05 per cent.

Vipingo Beach Resort had in suit papers filed in 2012 indicated that the property had a conservative value of Sh800 million.

The impending compensation is the latest signal of the heavy price the State is paying for the chaos at the Land registry that has left it with no option but to spend billions of shilling to acquire land it needs to develop public infrastructure.

The building of the Sh17.2 billion bypass started in November 2011 with a June 2015 completion date, but a multitude of court cases filed slowed down construction work and delayed its completion.

Mr Gachagua was among land owners who successfully sued the government for compensation in relation to land that the State sought to appropriate for public infrastructure works.

Kenya National Highways Authority in 2010 marked the apartments that were under construction for demolition, insisting they were built on land that had been reserved for the bypass.

Two years later, KeNHA officials visited the site without informing Vipingo of its intentions, prompting the company to seek redress in court.