The Nakuru Level Five Hospital Annex is sitting on private property.

The hospital which was annexed from the War Memorial hospital in the 1970s following a directive by the founding president Jomo Kenyatta has no ownership documents.

The management of War memorial hospital has now come out to defend ownership of the land and property upon which both hospitals sit.

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Dr Simon Mwangi, one of the directors of the War Memorial hospital board in his briefing to the media maintained the hospital’s ownership of the 25-acre parcel of land that the hospital property sits on.

The director said the land is private property owned by War Memorial Hospital after it acquired it in 1922.

According to Dr Mwangi, the war memorial hospital was established to take care of the patients from world war I.

The hospital leased the land for a period of 99 years whose expiry was in 2023. The lease period was however extended for another 50 years.

“We have a valid lease of 50 years which was extended in 2023 for our 25-acre parcel of land. We are only accommodating the PGH annex which was forcefully annexed from our building,” said Mwangi.

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He lamented that the War memorial hospital was treated unfairly by the government after it forcefully took over part of its building through a presidential directive and pushed it to a small part.

He noted that the hospital's effort to expand its buildings has been frustrated by the government which has declined to approve any development on the land.

“Every time we want to expand the hospital, the government declines to give us approvals. We had plans to establish an oncology center, the cardiac unit and the doctors' plaza but have not been able to because we cannot get approvals from the government,” said Dr Mwangi.

In addition, the management said that the county government has been sending letters to warn them against undertaking any construction on the land.

He argued that the government has continued to frustrate them despite playing a crucial role in complementing public hospitals.

According to him, most government officers, especially from the Kenya Revenue Authority, the department of Defense, the geothermal development Corporation, receive treatment from the hospital despite the frustrations from the government.

Despite their peaceful and quiet enjoyment of the private property being violated, the hospital is still reluctant to take legal action which it looks at as the last resort.

Dr Mwangi said the board is willing to engage the government in a dialogue in order to come up with an amicable solution to the issue.

"We have all the right to go to court and demand back our property. However, we do not want any acrimony and that is why we have been patient in seeking to engage the government first,” said Dr Mwangi.

The director said previous initiatives to engage the government have been fruitless but the hospital is yet to give up trying.

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A report by the Health services committee tabled before the Nakuru county assembly had indicated that PGH Annex lacked ownership documents and resolved to have the county government embark on the processes of acquiring the documents.

Dr Mwangi however maintains that the land is private and has never been acquired by the government.

opendajoseph@gmail.com

PGH annex and war memorial hospitals differ on land ownership

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Joseph Openda