Founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta may be resting in peace in his grave 45 years after his death, but the repercussions of a decision he made when he walked out of the Nakuru State House and crossed over to the neighbouring Nakuru War Memorial Hospital are still felt to this day.
A few years after independence, Mzee Kenyatta woke up one morning and crossed over to Nakuru War Memorial Hospital and verbally declared a part of the hospital’s land forcibly “annexed” by the government.
The hospital was divided into two, with the annexed part being renamed Nakuru Provincial General Hospital Annex, a public facility, and the other remaining under private ownership to cater to World War veterans.
But Mzee Kenyatta and his handlers forgot to formalise the annexation by getting a title deed for the public hospital, whose land to date legally remains in the hands of Nakuru War Memorial Hospital.
Nearly half a century later, a clamour by local leaders for the 25-acre property to “revert to government ownership” under management of the Nakuru Level Five Hospital has been met with disbelief and outrage by the owners of the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital.
“This is laughable and ridiculous,” Dr Simon Mwangi, a director at the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital, told Nation last weekend. “It’s what one would call pure ignorance.”
“The leaders wanted the land demarcated as they thought our lease had expired. They even sent their surveyors. But they later found out that we had renewed our lease including for the land next to State House where the presidential helicopter lands, which for the record, belongs to Nakuru War Memorial Hospital,” said Dr Mwangi.
“Our title deed was issued in the 1920s. Our lease has been renewed for another 50 years by the national government and it is sickening to hear politicians claiming that the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital has grabbed public land,” he added.
Renewing the lease, the medic said, was no walk in the park. According to Dr Mwangi, they had made several attempts over the past 10 years, which were blocked by powerful people.
He alluded to plans to frustrate the private facility and deny it the opportunity to expand and modernise its facilities.
“[Nakuru Level Five Hospital Annex] are even blocking us from burning trash in the incinerator we built on own land. They are now threatening to close the hospital on claims that we are burning trash in the open,” said Dr Mwangi. Plans to build a new Sh800,000 incinerator have been approved by the county government.
According to sources at the Department of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning, the officer who approved the plans has since been transferred to another department.
A report tabled at the Nakuru County Assembly in 2019 was against the existence of Nakuru War Memorial Hospital, whose land and equipment, Dr Mwangi claims, were forcibly taken without any compensation.
“The land on which the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital sits ought to have been reverted to government ownership. The facility should be managed by the Nakuru Level Five Hospital,” said Dr Peter Mbae, who was at the time the Kabazi MCA and a member of the Health Committee, is on record as saying.
However, former Governor Lee Kinyanjui did not implement the Health Committee’s report even after it was endorsed by the county assembly. Efforts to get comments from Lands and Physical Planning Chief Officer Catherine Chengwony were futile as she did not respond to our telephone calls.
Following Governor Susan Kihika’s recent directive to the Lands Department to ensure that all county government assets have valid land ownership documents, it remains to be seen how her administration will handle the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital dispute.
