Plan to wind up Embakasi land firm faces hurdles

A plan to dissolve the controversial Embakasi Ranching Company by February 1 has run into headwinds with plot owners furiously protesting a fee being levied by the firm’s directors.

On Monday, some shareholders stormed the offices bringing operations at the ranch’s Ruai offices to a standstill.

They demanded to be addressed by Land ministry officials and the ranch’s directors. Their spokesman, Joseph Njenga, said the ranch was not committed to the winding-up exercise as directors had introduced prohibitive fees that cannot be met within the deadline for the company’s closure.

He said the directors have stipulated that all shareholders must pay registration fees of Sh5,000 per plot and a further Sh20,000 allocation letter fee.

“That means the minimum a shareholder is expected to part with is Sh25,000 and if you have more than one plot, then the fee goes up,” he said.

“For as long as we can remember, we have been paying such fees to the ranch. Sensing that their scheme to make money from us is lapsing with the looming winding up, they have decided to blatantly rip us off for the last time.”

Land ministry officials had earlier advised the directors to waive the fees following the government’s decision to scrap titling fees for original shareholders.

READ: Troubled Embakasi Ranching set to be wound up on Feb 1

President Uhuru Kenyatta and top land officials have been paying attention to the matter that has bred chaos in Ruai area for decades. Most of the land in the area has no legal documents apart from the ranch’s receipts and certificates.

Long-serving ranch chairman Thuita Mwangi refused to speak to the Business Daily on the issue.

“The challenge is in having the ranch’s directors commit itself to the cause without shifting goalposts. The process will happen because the ministry will do all it takes to achieve the desired goals,” Land ministry spokesman Joseph Kamuto said.