RUTO renews bid to save his lavish Weston Hotel from imminent demolition as he begs the court to delay the inevitable

 Sunday, July 11, 2021 – Deputy President William Ruto has filed an application seeking to halt the demolition of the Weston Hotel which is built on grabbed public land. 

The case pitting Weston Hotel and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is set to resume on Monday, July 12 in the Environment and Lands Court.

Weston is pushing the court to postpone the hearing arguing that it intends to file an appeal on the case.

Through his lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi, Ruto now wants the case pushed to next year to allow his team to file for an appeal.

Ahmednassir intends to raise 11 grounds of appeal. In one of the appeals, he argues that the Environment and Lands Court has no jurisdiction to hear KCAA’s case as a new matter.

The lawyers have also castigated the presiding judge Bernard Eboso for failing to rule that NLC has powers to hear and determine cases involving public land.

“The impugned ruling offends the doctrines of exhaustion of remedies and condones the prohibition against the principle of constitution avoidance.”

“The ruling of March 3, 2021, will occasion a gross miscarriage of justice unless stayed,” the hotel argues in court papers. 

On the other hand, KCAA is accusing Weston of employing delaying tactics to save the hotel from demolition.

KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe, through lawyers Otiende Amollo and Stephen Ligunya, noted that Weston hotel has been pushing for the postponement of the case without filing a formal appeal.

Weston, which sits on a 0.773 hectares piece of land opposite Wilson Airport, in June last year accused KCAA of defying orders from NLC to conclude negotiations on the land after which Ruto would compensate it.