Sons of late freedom fighter Fred Kubai (inset), from left, Gideon, Blacklaw and Andrew.
The vacant 3.9-acre plot along Museum Hill Road, Nairobi, stands as a silent testament to Kenya's unfinished struggle for land justice.
Once envisioned as a thriving international casino complex, the property now represents what the family of independence hero Fredrick Kubai calls "a stolen reward".
Read: Battle for Kubai estate
He had been rewarded the land by the Kenyan government for his colonial-era sacrifices. However, the property was stolen through corporate fraud and government contradictions.
In a recent court ruling that dismissed the family's petition to recover the land on technical grounds, the Kubai family lost yet another battle in their decades-long war to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs.
The Environment and Lands ruled it lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the core issue: whether Kubai’s shares in the original landholding company were fraudulently transferred to shadowy entities tied to another businessman.
But the judgment leaves unresolved explosive allegations of document forgery, illegal share transfers, and institutional collusion that have haunted Kenya's land sector since independence.
This 1,300-word story unravels the complex legal battle over the land that has become part of statistics for Kenyans enduring struggles with land justice.
Christina Gakuhi Kiragu, the widow of freedom fighter Fred Kubai. FILE PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU |
The saga begins in 1968, when the government allocated the land registered as (LR No. 209/7437) to Tourist Paradise Investment Ltd, a company co-founded by Kubai, as a reward for his role in Kenya’s liberation struggle.
Kubai, a fiery trade unionist and Kapenguria Six detainee, had been instrumental in mobilising the Mau Mau uprising against the British colonial administration. His reward, like many freedom fighters, came tied to complex corporate structures that would later become his family's source of anguish.
Kubai Investments Ltd
Court documents reveal that Kubai transferred his majority stake of 24 shares to Kubai Investments Ltd in 1971, retaining a single share in Tourist Paradise.
However, his family alleges that in the 1980s, their stake was illegally transferred to Dolphin Holdings Ltd, a firm allegedly linked to businessman Ketan Somaia, a tycoon previously convicted of fraud in the United Kingdom.
“There was no signed share transfer form, no board resolution, and no payment,” argued Stephen Kubai, son of the former freedom fighter, in court filings. They believe the family was defrauded of their father’s legacy. Kubai died on June 1, 1996.
The legal dispute reveals how a casino deal with the government sparked dispossession of the land.
Complicating matters was a 1968 agreement between Tourist Paradise and the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) to operate casinos on the land and in Mombasa.
The family alleges this deal was littered with fraud as it was entered into without the minutes of the company or any resolutions.
The deal required the company to surrender the property to the government after 15 years, a clause the family insists was unlawfully extended through opaque agreements in 1982, 1989, 1993, and 2000.
But according to BCLB, this deal was approved by the directors of Tourist Paradise who were F. Labriola, F.P.K Kubai, P.G Dave and G.B Dessy as the secretary.
The family alleged that through a series of illegal and fraudulent dealings, the grant of the suit property, commonly referred to as International Casino, was charged to a bank, subdivided and surrendered to the government.
By the 1990s, Tourist Paradise charged the property to NIC Bank (now NCBA) for a Sh60 million loan, which was defaulted.
Independence hero Fredrick Kubai.
The bank auctioned the land, setting off a chain of transactions: In 2008 the plot was sold to Galaxy Walker Ltd and in 2012 was resold to Azareal Investment Ltd and finally the same year it was acquired by Edifice Real Estate Ltd.
The National Land Commission (NLC) initially ruled in 2016 that Edifice’s ownership was legal, only to reverse itself a year later, declaring the land public property. The government then demolished buildings on the site, citing illegality.
The saga also involves fraud allegations and missing paperwork in the transactions.
The Kubai family’s case hinges on two explosive claims, the first being alleged forged share transfers.
It says there was no transfer of one share from the late Fredrick Kubai and Kubai Investments Dolphin Holdings Limited, as the Kubai Investments still holds the original share certificate and according to the records held by the Registrar of Companies.
The petitioner contended that after the illegal transfer of shares, and together with the late Fredrick Kubai, the petitioner lost control of the suit property.
They argue that the Registrar of Companies admitted in a November 2014 letter that Dolphin Holdings, the entity that allegedly acquired Kubai’s shares at Tourist Paradise Investments, was not even registered.
The Registrar said the company did not appear in the Registrar’s database as a registered company. No share transfer documents were filed, they allege.
The family accuses NIC Bank and subsequent buyers of ignoring glaring irregularities in the ownership chain.
The Attorney General’s office, representing the Ministry of Lands and BCLB, conceded that Edifice’s title was “improperly procured” but argued the land reverted to the state in July 2017. Upon revocation, the suit property was vested in the Cabinet Secretary Treasury to hold in trust for the BCLB.
The AG agreed with the petitioner that the court should declare that the title held by Edifice Real Estate Ltd was improperly procured and ought to be cancelled.
Curiously, the BCLB admitted it had no records proving Kubai consented to later agreements extending the casino lease.
BCLB further argued that Tourist Paradise entered into various agreements with the government.
In a 2000 agreement, one clause indicated that the company would surrender to the government the property and the buildings including the equipment at the site in January 2001 as well as its titles and interest, if any, on the land.
Further, they learnt that Tourist Paradise had charged the property to a third party without the consent of the commissioner of land, which was illegal, fraudulent and a violation of the rights of the government on land.
The property was subject to a separate dispute where in a judgment delivered on July 26, 2018, the court found that it was necessary to establish whether the suit property was private or public land. The court papers show that the investigations were seized by the Directorate of Investigations.
Justice Charles Mbogo last week dismissed the petition lodged by Kubai Investment on technical grounds, noting that the dispute over share transfers fell outside the Environment and Land Court’s mandate.
“I am not persuaded that the petition is a land matter until the allegations of transfer of shares have been determined. The jurisdiction of this court is limited to dealing with title and tenure of land. The issues for determination as submitted by the petitioner are not within the purview of this court to determine,” said Justice Mbogo. He urged the family to pursue the matter in the Commercial Court.
While the court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, the substantive fraud allegations remain unresolved.
The family, through Kubai Investments, had sued 11 defendants alleging fraud, illegality, negligence, deceit and misrepresentation against them.
They included the Ministry of Lands, Registrar of Companies, BCLB, Chief land registrar, National Land Commission, Edifice real estate limited, Azareal investment limited, Galaxy walker limited, Tourist Paradise Investment limited, Dolphin holdings limited and Ketan Surendra Somaia.
Except BCLB, Ministry of Lands and Registrar of Companies, the other defendants did not file their response to the petition.
“The illegal transfer of shares, charging the suit property and subsequent default on payment were calculated acts of fraud meant to deny the petitioner (Kubai Investments) its right to ownership of the shares in Tourist Paradise and the suit property,” argues Mr Kubai.
As dusk falls on the vacant Museum Hill plot -once envisioned as a casino, now a symbol of betrayal -Fred Kubai’s family vows to fight on in the case that underscores systemic flaws in Kenya’s land and corporate governance.
For the Kubaïs, the plot symbolizes betrayal, a reward for sacrifice lost to alleged fraud.
The dispute also touches on historical injustice, highlighting how freedom fighters’ families continue battling for compensation decades later.
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