A signage advertising the Tatu Industrial Park in Tatu City in Septemebr 2017.
The standoff between Tatu City and Kiambu County has found a new battleground as both parties ask the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate extortion claims made by the private developer last week.
Kiambu County last Friday asked the EACC to investigate claims by Tatu City country head Preston Mendenhall that Governor Kimani Wamatangi is trying to extort land worth Sh4.3 billion from the private developer.
The county’s request came a week after Tatu City asked four government institutions, including the EACC, to intervene over claims that Dr Wamatangi and Lands CEC Salome Wainaina have been making unlawful land surrender demands as a condition for approving development plans.
Particularly, Tatu City claims that Dr Wamatangi has demanded 54 acres of land worth Sh4 billion.
In a letter to the anti-graft agency, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Wamatangi has requested that the extortion claims be investigated.
The governor stated in the letter that Kiambu County has exchanged correspondence with Tatu City all through, and only asked the developer to surrender land to be used for public amenities.
“The public land is to be utilised in building essential public amenities for the benefit of Kiambu people in line with the Physical and Land Use Act, 2019 and the Physical and Land Use Planning (Development Permission and Control) (General) Regulations, 2021.
“It is in the foregoing, that, I write to your offices… we hereby do request investigations into claims of extortion by Mr Preston by inviting him to provide evidence of extortion by either myself or the CECM (Ms Wainaina),” Dr Wamatangi said in the letter.
He claims that Tatu City played dirty by demanding that the county writes a letter of objection, only for the developer to call a press conference the following day and accuse him and Ms Salome of extortion.
The Kiambu governor holds he only asked Tatu City to surrender land from a 406-acre portion that the developer has already earmarked for public use.
On July 12, Rendeavour – the firm developing Tatu City – wrote to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation, the EACC, the Special Economic Zones Authority, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei and Solicitor-General Shadrack Mose alleging that the two senior county officials were trying to extort land from the developer.
Mr Mendenhall in his letter insisted that private land is protected from demands for surrender such as that by Kiambu County.
The Tatu City boss said that some of the demands by Kiambu County included surrendering two acres for building the governor’s residence, and 10 acres for social housing.
Mr Mehendall added that being private land, Kiambu County would have to pay for any land ceded for those progammes.
At the centre of the standoff is Kiambu County’s refusal to issue the lands ministry with a letter of no objection to Tatu City’s revised master plan and which would allow the developer to proceed with its project.
Tatu City’s master plan was approved in 2019. In 2022, Rendeavour embarked on amending the document.
Mr Mendenhall argued in his letter that there was no opposition when the lands ministry conducted stakeholder interactions on the revision, and that Dr Wamatangi only spoke up when he was asked to write a letter of no objection.
“In order to address the policy decisions, Tatu City wrote and extended an invite to Dr Wamatangi and his team to Tatu City the sole purpose of which was to take the Kiambu County through the proposed amendments and address any concerns that the Kiambu County had. On December 8, the Governor and his team were taken through the master plan and all queries addressed.”
“Despite this meeting, the Kiambu County declined to issue the letter of no objection until two acres of land for the Governor’s house was allocated, 10 acres was set aside for social housing to cater for the casual labourers and surrender of public purpose use land to the Kiambu County Government for free,” Mr Mendenhall said.
