State lists home of Standard, KTN and Radio Maisha for forceful takeover

By Ally Jamah
The modern structure housing Standard Group tops a list of mega-billion business complexes that Government wants to compulsorily acquire and flatten to pave way for expansion of Mombasa Road.
The redrawn map of the road, dated 2008, shows the home of the group’s flagship — Standard Newspapers and KTN Television — are to be pulled down to pave way for a fancy road expansion project, hitherto not in the public domain.
Curiously, the forced excision already gazetted by the Roads Ministry, and which appears to target the Standard Group, starts at the perimeter fence of the building the company completed moving to three months ago, and ends 2.5 kilometres away.
"I do not think I can rule out mischief at this stage, it starts with us and ends two-and-a half kilometres away...it amounts to a total shutdown and is done in the name of reckless compulsory acquisition of lands legally owned by legitimate going concerns," said Standard Group Deputy Chairman and Chief Strategist Mr Paul Melly.
Melly said the Group could not divorce the latest action taken by government against The Standard Group from the infamous raid against the business by a rogue police squad, under the command of the so-called Artur Brothers, in March 2005.
The raid took place in President Kibaki’s first term and the second attack comes in his last term in office.
"This is the boldest move yet by a democratic government against a media house. We thought we had the worst in 2006, but here we are again. It is aimed at commercially paralysing this business. This must be part of the unfinished business,’’ said Melly.
Yesterday, nearly 40 business people whose operations would be affected by the plan met at the offices of The Standard Group, and expressed shock at the plan, which they said amounted to economic sabotage against Kenya.
They asked the Government to come up with alternative plans to avoid economic hemorrhage and loss of jobs at the time it is talking of economic revival and pursuit of the Vision 2030 dream.
Alternative road

Standard Group Deputy Chairman Paul Melly (left) and stakeholders of those affected by the intended compulsory acquisition of land on Mombasa road and Waiyaki Way at Standard Group Centre, Nairobi, Tuesday. [PHOTO: Andrew Kilonzi/STANDARD]

"We urge our national leaders led by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to urgently intervene to have the design shelved, and to challenge those responsible to come up with an alternative road routing and workable designs that have limited negative economic impact," said Kiram Patel, an owner of a string of businesses affected by the plan.
Patel read a joint statement endorsed by the affected business people after a meeting at Standard Group offices to respond to the Gazette Notice.
If it goes through it will sweep away most of the landmark business structures standing on both sides of Mombasa Road from SG premises all the way to Sameer Industrial Park.
Curiously a building associated with a former powerful member of President Kibaki’s Cabinet, according to the Gazette Notice and subsequent map from Ministry of Lands, will be left untouched even though it is on the same path.
Such powerful businesses to be affected include Firestone, which like the Standard Group, is set to lose all its land, as well as Lab and Allied Group, Bobmill Mattresses, Millennium 2000 Plaza and Tulip Towers among many others.
The remodeling programme dubbed the JKIA—Museum Hill—Gigiri will also affect hundreds of businesses along Waiyaki Way on the Nakuru-Nairobi Highway.
The State now wants the affected property owners to discuss compensation for the property seizure with Government which two years ago completed the conversion of Mombasa Road into dual-carriage way from Athi-River Area to Nyayo Stadium.
No reasons were given why the State did not opt for the two or three-level roads or where the Government intends to get the billions that would be used to compensate the property owners whose Title Deeds the Government says it recognises to be valid and the buildings bearing the requisite approval certificates.
The Standard Group premises where Radio Maisha also broadcasts like the rest affected does not sit on a road reserve but the Government wants a maximum of 72 metres of it from the boundary with the road — which takes up at least two-thirds of the Standard Group Centre.
Because it is not on a road reserve, the State is invoking the law on compulsory land acquisition where it can declare that it is taking over any land but only under extreme circumstances where national interest justifies the move.
It is not clear why the Government did not advise The Standard Group not to continue with the construction of the Standard Group Centre, which was only completed recently, if it is true the land was targeted for acquisition in a plan older than two years.
When the Government first revealed plans to improve and rehabilitate the road network in Nairobi it was announced an extra lane would be added to the road adjacent to the Standard Group Center.
Experts say that there is sufficient space for another lane since the road reserves have not been tampered with and there is no justification to demolish private property to create more space.
Compensate owners
At the time the programme was launched in 2007, it was announced it would cost Sh2 billion and the project was to be funded by the Chinese government.

A section of the map showing the gazetted area on Mombasa road

Now The Government says that it would compensate the owners of the properties that are targeted. Going by that estimate, it appears that the cost of constructing a premise like The Standard Group Center can cover the rehabilitation of the said road several times over. The Gazette Notice in question is No. 16756 and 16757 dated December 31, 2010 by the Ministry of Lands.
The owners of businesses have until March 30 to negotiate with Government on issues of compensation.
"The consequences of the intended acquisitions are far-reaching in terms of massive destruction of existing businesses whose economic value in terms of productivity, capital investment and loss of employment and services to be worth tens of billions of shillings," read the joint statement.
The business groups also accused the government of using a high-handed approach of unilaterally seizing prime property without due regard to consultation.
An official audit of the value of the properties has been launched by the affected to determine the exact amount of losses that may run into billions of shillings.
"Such action is arbitrary, autocratic and smirks of an attitude by a government that does not care about private investment," they said.
The affected business people have formed a stakeholders group to challenge the forcible acquisition plan and more investors are expected to join to lobby top leaders to reverse the notice. "The overriding negative impact is to actualise the destruction of the Standard Group as a media house and deny Kenyans their rights to press freedom," they said.
"The stakeholders strongly object to this massive, unwarranted and reckless destruction of businesses and public institutions and will employ whatever means to defend and protest our individual and collective businesses and safeguard media freedom," they said.
Value of businesses
"The parcels of land that are marked for forced acquisition only begin near the Standard Group offices, in fact only one plot away. This may be a plan to silence our media house," said Melly.
Melly explained the Standard Group Centre houses all the operations of the media house including radio, television, print and Online and explained it was impossible to relocate to other premises without a 100 per cent shut down of operations.
"This move by Government is totally reckless and we are exploring all options to challenge the decision to see it reversed for the sake of the country," he said.
"We appreciate the need to develop and expand existing roads, but designers must take into account the value of the businesses to be affected. What is the point of destroying billions worth of property to construct a 2.5 kilometres of road?" he asked.
The new complex houses a state-of the-art printing press, administrative offices and working spaces of hundreds of journalists.