DN
2 propertybriefs WITH KIARIE NJOROGE
coverstory Apartments: newest holiday trend High-end apartments are slowly changing holiday accommodation at the coast due to their relative low cost and privacy compared to hotels. Some of the developments that are pioneering this shift include English Point Marina and Vipingo Ridge. A three-bedroom apartment goes for about Sh40,000 a night and can accommodate a family whereas beach hotels charge up to Sh20,000 per night per person; making the apartment model attractive to the middle class. The apartment model also caters to people
DAILY NATION Thursday April 9, 2015
travelling as a group and who prefer to cook their own meals or eat out. Tourism players expect that the growth of this segment will boost the sector and help stabilise the current turbulence. Some beach hotels have diversified to the new model and are developing some apartments targeted at the middle class market. Investors buying an apartment earn up to Sh30,000 a day from visitors during peak season with the difference used for services. An apartment currently sells at about Sh25 million although some like those at the English Point Marina go for between Sh43 million and Sh85 million.
Galvanised roofing sheets lose demand Alternative roofing materials are slowly edging galvanised sheets with fresh data showing that their use dropped 7.5 per cent last year. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows that 282,088 metric tonnes of iron sheets were produced in 2014 down from 305,152 metric tonnes in the previous year. This is despite the continuing growth in real estate with the indicative cement sales showing a strong upward growth for the construction sector. Shingles and tiles use has grown strongly especially in urban areas due to their aesthetic appeal even though they are more expensive.
Gone with the wind: The curse of monies from compulsorily acquired state land While compensation is a suitable way to ensure that people displaced during road expansion and infrastructural development are adequately catered for, it has also become a curse for families who bear the brunt of the greed displayed by the very people they expect to help them — parents and children who use the money to satisfy their own selfish needs BY DELFHIN MUGO @delphinmugo delfhinm@gmail.com
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n Monday, January 26 this year, DN2 ran a special report on construction of the Standard Gauge Railway line. Out of the need to build the SGR, the government had compulsorily compensated land owners along the route, and ordinary wananchi had been suddenly transformed into overnight millionaires. Even as the outcry from the angry and disappointed who had yet to be paid continued, the few who had received their bounty wasted no time and spared no expense to celebrate. In Manyani village, for instance, two teenage girls had been left in a dilemma after receiving a notice to vacate a house they had long known as home. They had no idea where their father, a widower, was.
Angela, the elder of the sisters, had been told that their father was off making merry after recieving the money. Rumour had it that the old man had bought an old van — which they had seen but could not confirm it was his — and moved to Mombasa, where he was busy painting the town red. What could be confirmed, though, was the old man’s actual compensation value. Public records at the Kenya Railways office in Voi indicated that he had received slightly above Sh5.5 million for a row of houses, some of which were rentals. According to his friends, the old man had been spotted occasionally, hopping from one drinking den to another. While this man was
Enshrined in the Lands Act, Cap 3 of 2012, Compulsory acquisition refers to the powers of the state to extinguish or acquire any title or other interests in land for public purpose subject to prompt payment of compensation.
— Dr Jack Mwimali, Senior law lecturer at JKUAT
accused of abandoning his daughters, Ms Abigail Idi Wawuda — a widow and resident of Kaloleni estate, Voi — was conned by her own son. Ms Wawuda had asked her 30-year-old son to receive the compensation money on her behalf as he was better versed in technology and also more flexible when it came to the time needed to follow up the documents with the bank. However, her son, Mr Hamisi Kilunju Idi, vanished soon after receiving the money. She was not sure the amount her son had received as compensation for the three-bedroom house she shared with her daughter and two grandchildren Idi had suddenly became uncooperative. Her daughter, however, thought the money could be in excess of Sh360,000. These two cases depict a familiar story that has been ongoing for decades — one of compensation money spent as fast as it has been received. They also highlight the impact of a little-known law of compulsory acquisition. “Enshrined in the Lands Act, Cap 3 of 2012, compulsory acquisition refers to the powers of the state to extinguish or acquire any title or other interests in land for public purpose subject to prompt payment of compensation,” explains Dr Jack Mwimali, a senior law lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. The law, he continues, can be dated back to medieval international law, when a
GROUP ACTING EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Tom Mshindi GROUP MANAGING EDITOR: Mutuma Mathiu FEATURES EDITOR: Bernard Mwinzi REVISE EDITOR: Mary Wasike SUB-EDITORS: Naliaka Wafula, Judy Ogecha PHOTO EDITOR: Joan Pereruan GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Dennis Makori
concept called eminent domain was spread by Hugo Grotius, an ancient philosopher. According to the doctrine of eminent domain, the state has the right to all land within its boundaries and each person holding land does it “on behalf of” the government. According to Dr Mwimali, two
concepts revolve around the doctrine. One is estate, where an individual holds land for a duration of time; and the other is tenure, where one receives land from the state in return for services provided to the nation. These, he continues, are common law doctrines which
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