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New Embakasi ranch 'officials' vow to defy Uhuru

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Heavy Security presence during a past Embakasi Ranching Company annual general meeting at the Muhuri Muchiri Stadium in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Fresh wrangles have erupted at the Ruai-based Embakasi Ranching Company, with “new directors” vowing to scuttle the issuance of titles and winding up of the company following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive.

The Registrar of Companies issued a certificate to a splinter group of the board of directors dated July 6, 2019, recognising James Mingi Njoroge as the new chairman of 13 directors.

This is despite Lucy Mathenge — who was elected at the helm of the 44-year-old real estate firm following last year’s death of long-serving chairperson Mwangi Thuita — insisting that she is still in office.

The two groups are now battling it out at the Registrar of Companies office on who is the bonafide management of the ranch.

“We are now planning the date when we will move into the Embakasi Ranching offices and resume operations as the legally recognised management. We will then block the presidential titling and dissolution programme in this company until we build a clean shareholders’ register as well as a catalogue of all of our assets,” Mr Njoroge told the Business Daily.

On her part, Ms Mathenge dismissed the group as “dreaming that leadership coups are fashionable in this 21st century”.

She said there is a well spelt-out procedure of how annual general meetings are called and how leadership slots are won in a shareholders’ election supported by minutes of the proceedings signed by both the incoming and outgoing office bearers.

Ms Mathenge said the office of the Registrar of Companies “is behaving as if it is being run by amateurs not conversant with the due procedure in effecting company changes”.

Land Chief Administrative Secretary Gideon Mung’aro told the Business Daily: “We are not concerned about these sideshows since the government has the final say in the affairs of this ranch. After one year of missing the presidential deadline to wind up the ranch and issue title deeds, we are now ready with the final list of genuine shareholders.

“The President ordered us to clean the register of ghost shareholders, conmen and fraudsters. We have done that and we are now waiting for State House to give us a date of the public ceremony to title the lands.”

While Ms Mathenge supports Mr Mung’aro’s position, the rival camp dismissed the declaration as that founded on wishful thinking.

According to Mr Njoroge, the Land ministry is taking a shortcut to sanctify irregularities that had been going on in the ranch as the government watched without intervening.

However, Ms Mathenge insisted that she is co-operating with the government to put to rest the controversies that have dogged the ranch for so long. The firm owns prime land on the Eastern Bypass and Kangundo Road.