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Former President Moi claims chunk of Balozi estate


Retired President Daniel arap Moi is claiming a portion of Balozi Estate in Nairobi’s Muthaiga North area in what is shaping up to be a big and baffling land battle.

And the man who is on record as having witnessed the former President’s signature in the purported transfer of the land to DPS International 28 years ago is none other than Mr Paul Nderitu Ndung’u, author of the famous Ndung’u Report on land grabbing.

Then a lawyer at Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, Mr Ndung’u witnessed Mr Moi’s signature in the sale of the property to DPS, a company in which Mr Ndung’u, interestingly, was a director.

The former President now disowns the transaction, saying he never sold the land to anyone until last month when he transferred it to a US-based Kenyan, Dr George Kiongera, for Sh500 million.

DPS sold the property to Insurance Company of East Africa (ICEA), which subsequently sold it to the United States International University-Africa.

USIU-A then swapped a 10-acre portion with Balozi Estate, and it is that portion which Mr Moi is likely to claim.

The Nation has established that DPS was incorporated in 1982 and its shareholders were Mr Ndung’u, Mr Michael Lewis and a limited company, Solel Boneh.

Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews purportedly represented DPS in the November 18, 1988 transaction that is presumed to have changed the ownership of the piece of land from Mr Moi.

Mr Ndung’u and Mr Lewis were both lawyers in the renowned law firm at the time.

Mr Lewis died in March this year while Mr Ndung’u is a partner at Ndung’u Njoroge and Kwach Advocates, the firm that represented USIU-A in the ownership dispute last month.

Read  the full story here.

SOURCE: Daily Nation