When KICC Was ‘sold’ For Sh2,000

By Kamau Mutunga

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Kenyatta International Conference Centre once changed ownership for less than Sh2,000. Never mind that it cost ShSh79.7 million to build, according to the Ministry of Roads and Public Works.

It so happened that in 1969, the year the first man went to the moon and Tom Mboya was gunned down along Moi Avenue, not far from where his statue now stands; a party outfit aptly named KANU Investment Trust Company Ltd was offered the parcel of land. This is where the iconic building inspired by the African hut would later stand.
Then in one inspired moment in 1989 the party, then Kenya’s Baba na Mama, decided to take the ‘offer’ of the plot that it had been offered in 1969 when it cost Sh1,680. That was the amount paid for the plot-plus the 30-storey building on it!

An allotment letter to that effect was duly issued by the Commissioner of Lands, and a 99-year lease agreement backdated to December 1, 1969. Baba na Mama became the landlord in 1990 and creamed from rental income until the Narc government came to power in 2003.

By the way, Karl Henrik Nostvik designed Kenya’s landmark building without air conditioners in mind as natural “fins” in the building with concrete exterior finish, would do just fine. The conically shaped 4000-seater Plenary Hall was an afterthought , Though. The Revolving Restaurant on the 27th floor, despite the hype of refurbishment, is neither revolving nor a restaurant.