Popular Lang’ata Road nightclub 1824 has been demolished. The establishment was brought down on March 1, evening.
Videos circulated online showed excavators at the premises tearing down the building piece by piece.
Some of the employees and bystanders were seen trying to salvage valuables that were covered by debris as crates of alcohol were secured at a safe distance.
The demolition was met with criticism and uproar from Kenyans online. Some feared that the employees would lose their jobs while others shared their sadness as they lost a popular chill spot.
1824 had been among the most frequented entertainment joints along Lang’ata Road.
Scandal Behind Lang’ata Road 1824 Club and Owner
The popular club was owned by Wilson Nahashon Kanani, an employee of the county government of Nairobi who found himself blocking heads with the law.
The demolition came shortly after the high court ordered that the club be closed after it refused to withdraw legal action freezing assets worth Ksh643.2 million belonging to Kanani.
“Justice (Prof) Nixon Sifuna yesterday dismissed an Application by Wilson Nahashon Kanani, an employee of Nairobi County Government, who wanted the High Court to discharge orders it granted EACC in September 2023 freezing his multimillion assets that he was unable to explain,” read part of the statement.
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However, the club had been reopened. The woes of 1824 began when its owner was put on the spot by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for having amassed millions he could not account for.
EACC argued that Kanani had acquired too much wealth when he was only earning a monthly gross salary of Ksh88,530, or a net of Ksh55,866 from Nairobi County.
Kanani’s Assets Frozen
On September 13, 2023, Justice Esther Maina stopped Kanani from dealing with his holdings including his high-end vehicles, residences, property and Ksh48 million stored in multiple bank accounts.
The ruling was made after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launched a case to seize the Nairobi County government employee’s assets, the source of which he was unable to explain.
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EACC stated that Kanani was a Development Control Officer II at the Nairobi County government’s Urban Planning Department and therefore must have acquired his property illegally.
The commission sought to seize all of Kanani’s assets as he could not explain how he acquired them.
