A weekend meeting between neighbours at Amara Ridge forced Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore to vacate a Sh120 million mansion in Karen that had been the subject of a dispute between her and Gatanga Mp Edward Muriu.
Bore vacated the house on Monday night after spending days claiming how she had bought it and that Muriu was evicting her because he had found a new buyer who was willing to pay more for it.
The saga which was escalating into a full blown scandal was headed to court after police declined to solve it due to Bore’s high position as a cabinet secretary.
Bore had claimed that she bought the house from Muriu and paid a 10 percent deposit. The Mp on the other hand was claiming that he had not been paid a single cent for the house and that the CS took advantage of his trip abroad to move in.
Apparently, we have established that Bore was living within the same neighbourhood at villa number three. The house that the CS and MP were fighting over is villa number six. Bore moved into the disputed villa sometimes in May.
At that time Muriu had travelled to the United States for the graduation of her daughter. It is not clear how the CS got access to the house but certain sources say that she had keys to the property which she got when she wanted to see the it.
The Mp who was unaware that his house had a new owner was surprised when he returned to get it occupied. This is after he sent a worker to renovate the house in preparation for another potential buyer who wanted to view it.
The worker met police over a dozen police officers manning the property last Friday. The officers man handled the worker right in front of television cameras.
“I entered into an agreement to purchase the property at the negotiated and agreed purchase price. I signed my part of the agreement for sale and transmitted the agreement through my lawyers to the vendor’s lawyers for signing on their part,” CS Bore said when asked how she got access to the house.
“We agreed that I take occupation of the house while I retreated to seek a mortgage facility for the balance, which I expected to obtain within the agreed transaction period of 90 days,” said the CS while claiming that Muriu and his wife, accompanied by thugs, attempted to evict her family from the facility while she was out of the country.
Tired that the drama was creating unnecessary tension in the neighbourhood, area residents asked Amara Management Company to try and intervene. This is because the Karen Police Station refused to be drawn in the scandal claiming it was a civil case that could be handled in court.
The neighbours held a meeting on June 19 and forwarded their resolutions to Amara Management Company.
“It was resolved that you provide the management company with either the executed sale agreement or executed lease agreement granted to you to access villa 6. The villa owner as per our records contends that he never granted access to the current occupants,” said a letter sent to CS Bore by the estate’s management.
The CS was given 24 hours to provide these documents or be prevented from accessing the house by management. Thats not all, the management also threatened to withdraw all services provided to the house including water.
“Please note that failure to provide the information shall sanction the disconection of all services currently employed by yourselves whilst occupying the villa,” said the management through Cytonn’s chief executive Edwin Dande.
Pushed to the corner, the CS had no option than to vacate on Monday night.
“Wisdom finally prevailed at Amara Ridge. The CS has vacated the villa. No more gunfights,” announced Dande.
With the Labour CS out of the house, a few questions still remain; Did she leave a house she had paid 10 per cent deposit without demanding her money back? Where is the proof that she had a sale agreement or an agreement to allow her inside the house? Just how did Bore find herself in Muriu’s house? And could she have told the public the half truth about the agreements?
Muriu has insisted that Bore never paid any money and there was no sale agreement between him and the CS.
He accused Ms Bore of using her position to occupy her house.
Mr Mruriu who is a lawyer and a first time MP, accused the CS of abuse of office.
“I have never signed a sale agreement with CS Bore and if she has one, let her table it. Deposit is paid after signing the sale agreement. Let her table the payment receipt,” he said.
