Nandi in Sh1.2bn hospital land row with MP
What you need to know:
- County officials claim that a three-acre piece of land on which Mr Mishra wants to build Mediheal Hospital is public land.
- The MP-cum-businessman, however, says the land was sold to him by a private developer, who allegedly acquired it from the county government.
- The MP planned to build a 100-bed capacity hospital.
The Nandi county government has rejected plans by Kesses MP Swarrup Mishra to build a Sh1.2 billion hospital in Kapsabet town amid claims of irregular land allocation.
County officials claim that a three-acre piece of land on which Mr Mishra wants to build Mediheal Hospital is public land.
The MP-cum-businessman, however, says the land was sold to him by a private developer, who allegedly acquired it from the county government.
The MP planned to build a 100-bed capacity hospital.
Mr Mishra says he bought the controversial piece of land during the previous county administration and holds a title deed for it.
He claimed to have delayed constructing the hospital to contest the 2017 election in which he was elected MP.
But officials hold that the land in dispute is owned by the county government.
Crisis meeting
The Nandi county executive committee member (CEC) for Lands, Jacob Tanui, county legal officer George Tarus and national government officials held a crisis meeting with Mr Mishra in Kapsabet Tuesday.
They are said to have told the MP that his title deed is invalid.
Mr Tanui said the county would not allow investors who obtained land illegally to invest in Nandi so as to avoid future demolitions like is happening now in Nairobi.
He urged the MP to buy land whose ownership is not in dispute to build the hospital.
“The county is interested in attracting new investors to help in job creation (as long as) they buy genuine land without breaking the law,” Mr Tanui said.
“The county government has also revoked 30 title deeds whose owners acquired public land illegally in different parts of Nandi.
"The county has no extra land to build public offices because of illegal allocations by greedy cartels.”
October 2016
Mr Mishra, however, maintained after the meeting that “the construction for the Sh1.2 billion hospital in Kapsabet is going to start in October 2018 because he had been issued the title deed to the land.”
He said the new hospital will serve patients in Nandi and other counties in western Kenya and create hundreds of new jobs.
He added that the previous administration had allowed him to build the health facility, adding that the decision rejecting it now would scare away other investors from Nandi.
