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US Envoy at the centre of land wrangle in city
Public Health Minister Beth Mugo and Mrs Deloris Jordan, president and founder of The James Jordan Foundation, console a sexual assault victim at the Nairobi Women's Hospital, recently. Looking on is the hospital's chief executive Sam Thenya.
By DAVID OKWEMBAH
Posted Saturday, November 22 2008 at 21:27
U S Ambassador Michael Ranneberger and the mother of a former NBA basketball star are at the centre of a multi-million-shilling land tussle in Nairobi, the Sunday Nation can reveal.
Mr Rannenberger and Deloris Jordan, the mother of Michael Jordan, want land worth Sh1.2 billion bequeathed to the Nairobi City Council by the colonial government allocated to a private organisation for a hospital project.
While it is not clear what interest the US Embassy has in the project, Mr Ranneberger wrote to President Kibaki on September 18, 2008 requesting that the land measuring 5.96 acres in State House neighbourhood be allocated to the Nairobi Women's Hospital.
The letter was written a month after Dr Sam Thenya of the hospital and Mrs Jordan had paid a courtesy call on President Kibaki at his Harambee House office on August 19 to press for the land.
The letter from Mr Ranneberger mentions the strategic location of the land, the benefits that would accrue to Kenyans from the hospital, and the funds Mrs Jordan would contribute to the project.
Numerous trips
Mrs Jordan has made numerous trips to Nairobi, including one that began last Sunday, in pursuit of the land and a new 250-bed capacity hospital for victims of gender violence.
But unknown to the two Americans and Dr Thenya, the coveted land is in the process of being gazetted as a national monument because of its historic significance and the architecture of the buildings on it.
Sources who attended the Harambee House meeting told the Sunday Nation that President Kibaki did not commit himself to allocating the land, known as Lady Northey, to Dr Thenya and Mrs Jordan.
The President is reported to have asked Nairobi Women's Hospital and Mrs Jordan to look for land elsewhere.
Sources said the organisation had been offered land in Embakasi near City Cabanas restaurant as well as another plot opposite the Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Eastleigh, Nairobi. Neither offer has been acted on.
Directive given
However, Dr Thenya claims that a directive was given to the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Muthaura, to allocate them the prime property. Among those present, he claims, were the minister for Health, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, and his counterpart in Internal Security, Prof George Saitoti.
"The President directed that we should be given land at this meeting," Dr Thenya said.
However, his statement has been dismissed by the Permanent Secretary for Lands, Dorothy Angote, who said the land in question is public land which was bequeathed to the Nairobi City Council in perpetuity.
"It can't be allocated as it was a gift to the public with specific instructions on its use," Ms Angote said.
She added that a decision had been taken by an inter-ministerial committee, which included Dr Thenya, in regard to the Nairobi Women's Hospital. "Nairobi Women's Hospital understands the position taken and options available to them," the PS said.
She ruled out the allocation of Lady Northey to the organisation, noting that "even in the United States, public land cannot be allocated for private use."
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/493942/-/tm3oc5/-/index.html
