DP William Ruto in spat with businessman over Weston land

Deputy President William Ruto has dragged opposition chief Raila Odinga into his public spat with controversial businessman Jacob Juma over the Weston Hotel land.

Mr Ruto Tuesday took to Twitter to respond to a message by Mr Juma on the hotel’s land which he claims was grabbed from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).

In the tweet, Mr Juma quoted Mr Odinga saying that the title deed for the land on which the hotel stands should be returned and all structures on the plot demolished.

“Tinga (Raila Odinga) must have forgotten that he already sent his man Jacob Juma (of the Erad scandal fame) to court over Weston Hotel built when he was PM (prime minister),” Mr Ruto fired back. “For the record, Weston was not in the Ndung’u report... It was built in Lang’ata over 10 years when Tinga was area MP and PM.”

The spat is centred on allegations that the hotel stands on land grabbed from KCAA in 2002, a position that the Mr Ruto has previously denied.

In an interview with Citizen TV earlier this month, Mr Ruto denied the KCAA link saying that the land had been acquired legally.

Mr Ruto said that he and his associates bought the land from people who had been allocated by KCAA. Mr Juma, however, alleges that he has documents proving that the land was grabbed.

“Failure/omission of your accomplices at KCAA and Lands (ministry) to present the Weston land grab to the Ndung’u commission does not absolve you,” he said.

Mr Ruto admitted to having an interest in the hotel two weeks ago, contrary to claims by his ally Patrick Osero at the beginning of this year.

Mr Osero in January insisted that he owned the hotel with two others but denied that his friend, Mr Ruto, was one of them.

Mr Osero said that Mr Ruto only visited the 120-room hotel, which was opened last year, as his friend and customer.

READ: Who is this businessman behind Weston Hotel?

The war of words between Mr Ruto and Mr Juma also revealed that the two have known each other for over 20 years when they were still young members of the then ruling party KANU.

“@WilliamsRuto when I introduced you to Cyrus Jirongo at his then Dev Hse office on Moi Avenue in 1991, you were very humble. What happened?” Mr Juma asked.