Business Daily (Nairobi)
John Kamau
12 November 2009
Seven years after independence, President Kenyatta issued a quiet decree on acquisition of beach plots and what came to be known as second-row plots.
Only Coast Provincial Commissioner Eliud Mahihu was given the authority to identify and recommend those eligible for the allocations.
Mr Mahihu cast the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle aside and gave the plots to senior government officials, politicians and businessmen.
While some of the plots have since changed hands, it will be an arduous task to handle the issue under Agenda Four since the plots also host major hotels that are the bedrock of Kenya tourism industry.
In this part of the Seeds of Discord series which started on Monday, we highlight how Mr Mahihu and his friends built a large empire at the Coast province and how the scramble for beach plots was carried out on private and political fronts.
Under Mahihu's watch, his signature carried more weight than that of the Commissioner of Lands, J.A. Loughlin, and later on J Njenga.
Mr O'Loughlin, who had been retained as one of the expatriate civil servants faced tough times and in one of his letters dated December 31, 1971 told an applicant that his case would be referred to a "higher authority".
He wrote: "As you are aware, all applications for approval to sales of beach plots and second row plots are now being considered very closely where the purchaser is a non-African."
What he did not say was that --from then on-- he was simply a rubber-stamp and the man with the mandate of approving all beach plot sales was Mr Mahihu, a person who occupied the political and business ringside seat at the coast province.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
