Attorney General Kihara Kariuki has sinked Bomas of Kenya's battle for Sh85 million in compensation for land that was hived off to pave the way for the expansion of Lang’ata Road. In the case, State runned cultural village had sued government's Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) for illegal acquisition of its land.
Attorney-General and KURA were taken to court for failing to pay Sh85 million in compensation for land that was hived off in 2013.
The land was hived off LR No 12066 for rehabilitating and upgrading a section of Lang’ata Road between the Kenya Wildlife Service head office and Bomas of Kenya junction
Was this really necessary? How much money, tax payers money to be specific were lost as legal representation fees... in the long dragged case! The Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki informed Najib Balala led Tourism ministry that a State agency could not compulsorily acquire land belonging to another government entity. “ It is on this premise that all the parties agreed to withdraw the case from court,” states a brief presented to Parliament on June 10. KURA and National Land Commission (NLC) had hived off two acres of Bomas of Kenya land to upgrade the Langata road. The National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee (PIC) said Kura and NLC had not compensated Bomas of Kenya for the land as of June 10, 2020. Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir had asked the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua to intervene and settle the compensation dispute. “ Considering the government policy that government entities should not sue each other, the Head of Public Service should convene a meeting between the aggrieved parties and resolve the matter within three months of the adoption of this report,” said Mr Nassir in a report on the audited financial statements for 48 State corporations tabled in Parliament last Wednesday. In May last year, Bomas of Kenya General Manager Quresh Ahmed disclosed that he had sued the Attorney General and KURA. A local survey on the valuation of the piece of land hived off states that Bomas could have been compensated Sh85 million had they won the case.