The Nairobi Expressway, once the crown jewel of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s infrastructure legacy, is now under a cloud of controversy following revelations that the Kenyatta family profited heavily from the project despite public pledges to curb conflict of interest in government.
Court documents from a tax dispute before the Tax Appeals Tribunal expose a complex web of shell companies and trustees used by the Kenyatta family to secure lucrative land and sand supply deals during the KSh 88 billion project’s construction.
Records suggest the family earned between KSh 1.8 billion and KSh 2.8 billion in 2022 alone, through a firm called Edge Worth Properties Ltd, secretly owned by Enke Investments Ltd, the family’s business flagship.
A Reformist Speech That Didn’t Age Well
Back in December 2019, President Uhuru called out publicly for tighter laws to prevent public officials and their families from profiting from state projects.
He tasked the Attorney General to draft a Conflict of Interest Bill. He was praised for appearing to take a tough stance on corruption. But as construction of the Nairobi Expressway picked up, his family was quietly negotiating deals behind the scenes that starkly contradicted his public rhetoric.
The Secret Business Behind the Road
The arrangement became public when the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) audited Edge Worth Properties and slapped it with a KSh 249 million tax demand.
In fighting the claim, the company had to disclose that Rose Wamaitha Ng’ote, the listed sole shareholder, was solely a trustee for Enke Investments, the Kenyatta family’s holding company.
This admission confirmed that the family had directly benefited from the expressway project, even though their involvement had been hidden behind layers of agents
Documents also revealed that Edge Worth Properties allowed the Chinese contractor, Cale Infrastructure, to extract sand and dump construction debris on its land, harvesting massive profits.
Financial records showed the company declared Sh1 billion in dividends in 2022, an amount typically earned only by highly profitable ventures.
Layers of Ownership and Silence
Enke Investments, registered in 1989, is owned by a tightly controlled circle: Mama Ngina Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta, and Goodison Trust Corporation, which is itself controlled by Uhuru Kenyatta’s wife, Margaret Wanjiru Gakuo, and their children.
The tribunal sided largely with Edge Worth Properties, validating the proxy ownership and granting tax exemptions under existing laws.
However, the case revealed a secret that had long shrouded the family’s business dealings and raised eyebrows over ethical standards in public-private partnerships.
The Nairobi Expressway was a signature project meant to symbolize Kenya’s modernization. But with these new disclosures, it also stands as a stark example of how elite families can structure business arrangements to quietly profit from public ventures even while warning others against it.
The Conflict of Interest Bill President Kenyatta championed remains stalled.
Meanwhile, this case is prompting new questions: how many other government projects are quietly benefiting those with power and proximity?
In a country still battling corruption and opaque governance, the Edge Worth Properties case is more than a tax dispute; it’s a story about promises made, and promises broken, at the highest levels.
Reviewed by Jack M
