Between Promises and Prosecutions: The Unyielding Struggle for Justice in the Talanta Hela Stadium Land Dispute
by admin on | 2025-03-06 08:39:18 Last Updated by admin on 2025-03-28 10:10:55
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Land disputes in Kenya have long been a crucible in which issues of justice, governance, and the rule of law are tested. Few cases embody these challenges as starkly as the controversy surrounding the 79 acres, LR 7656 Ngong Road land that was once partly (60 acres) earmarked for a housing project for the employees of the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC) under the Postel Housing Cooperative Society. Today, that land, now occupied by the current construction of Talanta Hela Stadium, stands as a monument to broken promises and institutional failures. A very serious Government project designed to host Continental Championship, while there is a very serious contention of ownership of the land and the Government hasn’t even paid for the Compulsory acquisition of the land. This article examines the origins and evolution of this dispute by scrutinizing the legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms that have repeatedly failed to deliver justice to those aggrieved. At the heart of the controversy is Telkom Kenya, which has become synonymous with corruption and the ultimate betrayal of the employer/employee relationship. In 1993, the company entered into a valid sale agreement to sell 60 acres of land (LR 7656) to its employees, deducting the requisite payments directly from their pay slips through a check-off system. However, what began as a promise of dignified home ownership was perverted into a farce. On 2 May 2001, without any supporting documentation, Telkom Kenya unilaterally altered the title of LR 7656 to claim ownership of the entire 79 acres and, shockingly, secured an unauthorized loan of KES 1.5 billion from Kenya Commercial Bank the very next day. The company then attempted to sell the entire 79 acres to AFTRACO at a throwaway price of KES 1.52 billion, a figure that grossly undervalues the land, which is estimated to be worth nearly ten times that amount. A current illegal agreement between AFTRACO and Telkom allocates the land on a 60:40 basis in favour of AFTRACO, a development highlighted in a lead story by the Sunday Nation on 8 December 2024 that appears to be exacerbating the existing illegality. It is also unclear how the author of the Sunday Nation article, Brian Ambani, links AFTRACO to a sitting Cabinet Secretary, particularly when the CR12 from the Business Registration Service clearly shows that AFTRACO is owned solely by Salim Sadru (500 shares), Jane Jepkemboi Sumbeiywo (499 shares) and Lawyer Hellen Olwanda (one share). No public information has emerged to suggest any connection between the Cabinet Secretary and AFTRACO. The transaction between AFTRACO and Telkom was ultimately nullified when reports emerged that...
