Late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua's Family Fights to Save Sh1.2 Billion Nairobi Building from Demolition

The late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua's family has moved to court to block the government's intention to demolish a building in Nairobi whose value is estimated at Sh1.2 billion.

Gachagua, who passed away in February 2017, constructed the building in 2009 after purchasing the land where it sits a year earlier.

The National Land Commission (NLC) says the residential apartments stand on a road and railway reserve and wants the property flattened.

The family, led by Gachagua's younger brother Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira MP) has however opposed government bid to reclaim the 1.2 acre property along Nairobi’s Southern Bypass.

Until his death, the late Governor who succumbed to cancer had been fighting in court efforts by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to demolish the structures after they were marked for removal.

KeNHA has maintained that the land where the 80 apartments sit had been reserved for road and railway expansion in the 1980s. In July 2017, NLC revoked the land's title deed  clearing the way for KeNHA to demolish the building.

In court documents, Rigathi Gachagua says that NLC revoked the title deed of the land where the property sits without giving them an opportunity to be heard.

Nine people who purchased some of the apartments also joined the suit, and argue that they would suffer huge losses if demolition is okayed. The Lang'ata property was one of the most valuable of the late Nyeri Governor Gachagua’s multi-billion shilling estate.