KANU Loses KICC Property Generating Up To Ksh1 Billion

UPDATE: The KANU party has announced that it has disagreed with the High Court’s ruling on the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) land, adding that it will move to the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court ruling.

“The party has already instructed its legal team to file a notice of appeal with immediate effect as the party combs through the substance of the judgement to issue a comprehensive statement in due course,” KANU said in a statement in part.

The Kenya African National Union (KANU) party on Monday, June 3 suffered a big blow following a High Court ruling that the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) land belongs to the government.

The ruling by Justice Jacqueline Mogeni of the High Court sitting in Nairobi revokes KANU's title deed despite the party arguing that it was issued to itself.

Justice Mogeni ruled that the commissioner of lands in 1989 had no power to alienate the KICC land to the party.

"The allocation of the property to KANU without following legal procedure is unlawful and illegal," Justice Mogeni stated.

The High Court also questioned how the Independence Party was allocated the parcel of land that was not surveyed and reserved for public use.

Justice Mogeni also observed that KANU did not provide the court with evidence of how the KICC land was alienated from the public and allocated to the political party.

"A declaration that the Ministry of Tourism is the lawful owner of the land and KANU registration is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional," Justice Mogeni ruled.

In their court documents, KANU argued that it was allocated the land on May 10, 1969, by the commissioner of lands and acquired the title of the land on May 25, 1989, making them the bona fide owners of the multi-billion property.

The party had tried to get back the land after it was kicked out on February 11, 2003, through an executive order by the late former President Mwai Kibaki.

"That the petitioner has an indefeasible title to land Reference Number 209/11157 as the registered owner under Section 26 of the Land Registration Act, No. 3 of 2012, and it was unlawful for the 1st respondent to purport to revoke the title without due process of the law," the party said in the court documents.

Despite management by different entities, KANU said KICC had always been their property. In 2020, KANU moved to the Environment and Land Court seeking to reclaim it.

The party complained that despite the government's takeover without compensation; the government claimed to waive its responsibility to pay liabilities, bills and utilities due to the property including a debt of more than Ksh400 million owed to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company Ltd (KPLC).