Kenya Defence Forces officers stand guard at the entrance of 20 acres of prime land that has been disputed between Uchumi and Kenya Defence Forces in Roysambu, Kasarani, in 2019.
When President William Ruto pledged Sh20 million to Jesus Winner Ministry for the construction of a church in Ruaraka, he was not merely making a charitable gesture.
He was entangling himself further in the murky web of a land saga where corruption, political intrigues and bullying have walked hand in hand. That land features in United States president Theodore Roosevelt’s African Game Trails: The Classic Big Game Safari and was reported worldwide.
The very parcel of land carries a legacy of intrigue, tracing back to an era when President Daniel arap Moi was allocated a chunk and sold it to Uchumi Supermarkets – a transaction orchestrated through a proxy to secure funds for the acquisition of Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) shares.
Moi wanted Sh400 million to buy KCC assets clandestinely, despite their actual value standing at Sh5 billion. KCC was run down by Moi’s cronies, including his son, and failure to pay for the school free-milk programme.
The matter became public when Moi was entangled in a legal battle with Dr Kenneth Kiplagat, a Yale-trained lawyer. Moi sought to recover Sh100 million meant for Cherry Hill Ltd, an entity incorporated on October 2, 2001, and which was to get compensation after the Mwai Kibaki government decided to buy back KCC. Moi argued that Dr Kiplagat had no rightful claim to the compensation while the lawyer denied Moi’s involvement as a Cherry Hill Ltd shareholder.
That is when Timara Properties Ltd came to the limelight, a company that had been allocated part of the Ruaraka land. After selling the land to Uchumi, it was dissolved in May 2008 after being paid Sh300 million of the Sh500 million refund the Kibaki government budgeted to retrieve KCC from grabbers. Moi was not satisfied and continued to pursue Cherry Hill’s Sh100 million compensation.
As tensions escalated, Mutula Kilonzo and Joshua Kulei stepped in to mediate. The case, teetering on the brink of scandal, was settled out of court – its finer details shrouded in mystery to date.
It remains unclear whether Uchumi acquired the entire land from Timara Properties – the proxy company linked to Moi – or from Solio Construction, which later sold a piece of the land to Kasarani Mall Ltd, a company owned by Uchumi Supermarkets. Court files indicated that the original title, LR 11622/3, had been divided into two – LR No. 5875/2 and LR No. 23393.
Iron sheets fence on a 20 acres of prime land in Roysambu, Kasarani.
There was another interest to this land. In mid-1980s, Commissioner of Lands James Raymond Njenga sought to acquire it compulsorily for “public purposes”. The intended beneficiary was the military, which envisioned a Kenya Army School on the site. However, the military dismissed the land as unsuitable due to its proximity to residential areas.
Ghostly ruins
Before his death on Christmas Day in 1974, Meyer Jacob Samuel – an Israeli – resided on this estate where Henry Tarlton, a pioneer White settler in Roysambu estate, established an ostrich farm and a zoo. Roysambu Farm became the first centre of Across Africa Safaris.
For years, the ghostly ruins of Meyer Jacob’s home stood on this plot amidst the towering blue gum trees and tangled undergrowth.
A bachelor, Meyer Jacob left no Will, and upon his death, the land seamlessly passed into the hands of his brother, Raphael Jacob Samuel, and his half-brother, Meshumor Jacob. It was Meshumor who would handle the Moi-era hunt for vacant lands where the 99-year lease was about to expire.
Thus, when the Commissioner of Lands sought to acquire a 16-acre portion in 1985 for the military, Meshumor protested that the gazette notice had been issued without the courtesy of informing him. He doubted that the land was being taken for a genuine public purpose. By this time, land-grabbing had reached its nadir in Nairobi.
An inquiry into the acquisition was conducted in February 1986, during which Meshumor demanded Sh25 million in compensation. The chief government valuer had assessed the land at Sh3.5 million. A January 26, 1987 letter from the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Defence (DoD) to the Commissioner of Lands stated that a DoD team had conducted a visit and found the land unsuitable for the intended purpose unless the surrounding four properties were also acquired.
Two months later, Maj-Gen Jackson Munyao wrote to the Commissioner of Lands, instructing him to disregard the earlier request and await contact on the matter. However, no further communication was made and no payments were issued to Meshumor due to financial constraints. That was according to a later National Land Commission (NLC) document.
Meanwhile, the clock was ticking since the lease for the property was expiring on November 1, 2004. Land sharks were laying in wait for the property to revert to the government.
In a document filed in court in April 2015, the NLC’s Head of Investigations unearthed shadowy dealings surrounding LR. No. 5875/2. The parcel, held under Solio Construction Ltd, had been transferred to Kasarani Mall Ltd for Sh85 million on March 20, 2001. However, a key piece of the puzzle was absent – the deed file had vanished.
More so, records on Timara Properties Ltd were nowhere to be found. The NLC investigation yielded a damning conclusion: no official documentation of the transaction existed.
“Our assumption is that it has been stolen, hidden or maliciously destroyed,” the commission gravely noted.
And that is not the only shadow lurking over this land. In 1933, the brash and domineering settler Henry Tarlton – renowned as a bully – ruled his vast 4,443-acre Roysambu Estate with an iron fist. Whites and Africans faced his wrath if they dared hunt on his “exclusive dominion”. So relentless was his pursuit of control that Tarlton even took on the colonial administration, penning diatribes in the East African Standard.
Tarlton and his brother Leslie were among the wave of Boer settlers who, in the early 1900s, trekked from South Africa, seeking refuge from British rule in Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Many of these battle-hardened pioneers established themselves in Eldoret, a town that still bears the unmistakable imprint of Afrikaner influence – its architecture, church and cemetery standing as echoes of that past.
Beyond earning honourable mentions in Theodore Roosevelt’s African Game Trails: The Classic Big Game Safari, Leslie carved his legacy in the annals of African adventure. He is revered as being behind the first luxury tented safari on the continent – a concept that would redefine high-end travel in the wild. He was the leader of the Roosevelt hunting safari in British East Africa after he left White House.
In 1904, alongside his brother Henry and their associate Victor Newland, Leslie co-founded Newland, Tarlton & Co, a Nairobi-based outfitting company that catered to the ambitions of Big Game hunters. Their expertise and organisation made them the premier guides for aristocrats, statesmen and thrill-seekers drawn to the mystique of Africa’s untamed wilderness.
Though time has weathered the colonial safari era, the name Newland, Tarlton & Co endures. Under the stewardship of Donald Young Safaris, it remains a hallmark of exotic travel, a symbol of adventure and a tribute to the pioneers who charted the path into the heart of Africa.
In February 1930, Henry Tarlton parted ways with part prized estate, selling part of it to Captain HV Briscoe, a marine superintendent formerly with the East African Railways and Harbours. One of his nephews, Derek Stephenson, described him as an uncle with a fondness of keeping moneys and parrots as pets.
By the time Briscoe took possession, the once-sprawling estate had already been carved up – first into vast parcels of 200 acres, and later, whittled down into smaller 20-acre plots.
This Ruaraka land is the only surviving piece of that history as the rest was swallowed by real estate. President Ruto has added another twist to the land.
John Kamau is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Toronto, Canada. @johnkamau1 Email: [email protected]
