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Grace Aluma aka Debra amelia george-kasambura aka'Queen' shebah sai ra III
The Nation (Kenya)- AAGM)
BY MWANGI GITHAHU, 18 JUNE 2006
Kenyans in general, and those in high places in particular, appear thoroughly susceptible to con artists.;Whenthey strike, the con artists pull the wool over our eyes with wild claims of connections to the rich, famous and politically well-heeled.
It would appear that the more fantastic their claims; the easier it is for Kenyans to fall under their spell.
Reaching as far back as 1982 when Ugandan confidence trickster Grace Aluma took Kenya's high and mighty for a ride...an obviously poorly educated woman who managed to convince her victims that she was engaged in big deals for uranium with the American government. She claimed to have $100 million in the bank and flashed forged documents to back up her claims.
She took certain MPs for a ride making boastful promises that she would be investing her millions in Kenya.
She collected money from her victims who included the Kenya Commercial Bank, Swissair (defunct), Westlands Motors (now Toyota Kenya), then Bahati MP Fred Omido and a UN consultant from Sierra Leone, Dr Victor Johnson.
Of all of her con jobs, however, Grace Aluma's most ambitious was her attempt to lure prominent diplomats and lawyers to ''buy'' the 15-storey International House in Nairobi.
The afair ended in tears for all involved and , shortly afterwards, the law caught up with Ms Aluma and her accomplice, Dr Simon Ngoye Mulopwe, a Zairean national.
She came, she saw, she conquered...that was Debra Amelia Kasambura nee George.
Many Businessman and senior government officials were at her beck and call; advancing her goods and services just because she claimed to be the Queen of Sheba of the Nubian empire.
A native of Sierra Leone, a village in Trinidad and Tobago's Diego Martin island, the '' queen'' attended local school where she developed her sense of the aesthetics-an appreciation of beauty. She got married to a Dutch national and emigrated to Holland. .
Her husband died shortly after and she was left with three children-Yuray, Vanessa and Armando.
According to an internet report, she studied law, psychology and international marketing in quick succession before she started her law practice while still running a clothing and design business and a consultancy firm.
In 2001, Debra met and married Adam Sheikh Thabit Kasumbara, the self-declared King of the Nubian Dynasty which, according to her, stretched to Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt.
She arrived in Kenya in March 2002 and ensconced herself at the Grand Regency Hotel where she commandeered the presidential suite for herself and an attendant. She demanded and received special treatment from the hotel as well as government officials who busied themselves trying to make arrangements for her to pay a courtesy call on then President Moi.
She claimed she had Sh15 billion, which she wanted to invest in various projects in the country. And she was open to investment ideas. Hoping to get a share of the billions; civil servants from the Office of the President, the ministry of Foreign Affairs, businessmen connected to the political establishment; and the management of the hotel went out of their way to make her stay comfortable.
The bubble burst when the woman's story of having billions to invest or even that she was Queen of Sheba failed to add up. By then, she had run up a huge bill at the hotel and was on the brink of being charged in court. Mortified at the ease with which she had pulled her con, the authorities did not press charges and she was allowed to leave the country.
In 1987, Kenya hosted the Fourth All African Games. A prestigious event by all accounts except for the appearance on the scene of an American-Dick Berg-Who promised to market the games and raise the country's profile. He was given a down payment of Sh5 million to run the media blitz, which he promised would focus the world's attention on the continent's games.
The man left the country after placing only one advertisement in an international magazine. Then Culture and Social Services minister Henry Kosgey launched a search for the man. To date, nothing has been seen or heard of Mr Berg.
It would appear that the more fantastic their claims; the easier it is for Kenyans to fall under their spell.
Reaching as far back as 1982 when Ugandan confidence trickster Grace Aluma took Kenya's high and mighty for a ride...an obviously poorly educated woman who managed to convince her victims that she was engaged in big deals for uranium with the American government. She claimed to have $100 million in the bank and flashed forged documents to back up her claims.
She took certain MPs for a ride making boastful promises that she would be investing her millions in Kenya.
She collected money from her victims who included the Kenya Commercial Bank, Swissair (defunct), Westlands Motors (now Toyota Kenya), then Bahati MP Fred Omido and a UN consultant from Sierra Leone, Dr Victor Johnson.
Of all of her con jobs, however, Grace Aluma's most ambitious was her attempt to lure prominent diplomats and lawyers to ''buy'' the 15-storey International House in Nairobi.
The afair ended in tears for all involved and , shortly afterwards, the law caught up with Ms Aluma and her accomplice, Dr Simon Ngoye Mulopwe, a Zairean national.
She came, she saw, she conquered...that was Debra Amelia Kasambura nee George.
Many Businessman and senior government officials were at her beck and call; advancing her goods and services just because she claimed to be the Queen of Sheba of the Nubian empire.
A native of Sierra Leone, a village in Trinidad and Tobago's Diego Martin island, the '' queen'' attended local school where she developed her sense of the aesthetics-an appreciation of beauty. She got married to a Dutch national and emigrated to Holland. .
Her husband died shortly after and she was left with three children-Yuray, Vanessa and Armando.
According to an internet report, she studied law, psychology and international marketing in quick succession before she started her law practice while still running a clothing and design business and a consultancy firm.
In 2001, Debra met and married Adam Sheikh Thabit Kasumbara, the self-declared King of the Nubian Dynasty which, according to her, stretched to Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt.
She arrived in Kenya in March 2002 and ensconced herself at the Grand Regency Hotel where she commandeered the presidential suite for herself and an attendant. She demanded and received special treatment from the hotel as well as government officials who busied themselves trying to make arrangements for her to pay a courtesy call on then President Moi.
She claimed she had Sh15 billion, which she wanted to invest in various projects in the country. And she was open to investment ideas. Hoping to get a share of the billions; civil servants from the Office of the President, the ministry of Foreign Affairs, businessmen connected to the political establishment; and the management of the hotel went out of their way to make her stay comfortable.
The bubble burst when the woman's story of having billions to invest or even that she was Queen of Sheba failed to add up. By then, she had run up a huge bill at the hotel and was on the brink of being charged in court. Mortified at the ease with which she had pulled her con, the authorities did not press charges and she was allowed to leave the country.
In 1987, Kenya hosted the Fourth All African Games. A prestigious event by all accounts except for the appearance on the scene of an American-Dick Berg-Who promised to market the games and raise the country's profile. He was given a down payment of Sh5 million to run the media blitz, which he promised would focus the world's attention on the continent's games.
The man left the country after placing only one advertisement in an international magazine. Then Culture and Social Services minister Henry Kosgey launched a search for the man. To date, nothing has been seen or heard of Mr Berg.
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)
Further Reading:
- Court Issues Arrest Order For 'Queen'
- Africa News Servce, The Nation (Kenya), February 3, 2001
- This Queen's Tale Stunk To High Heaven
- Africa News Service, The Nation (Kenya), February 4, 2002
- Man, the great inventor, the great spinner of tales. I spin tales, therefore I am. And because man is such a great teller of stories, he will go to extremely absurd extents to believe ridiculous things. A woman came to this country in December, bedecked in jewels and swathed in furs, and identified herself as the Queen of Sheba. Now, for those of you whose knowledge of the Bible is not up to scratch: The Queen of Sheba was the beautiful woman from north of the border with whom King Solomon was having an extra-marital affair. King Solomon, according to certain genealogies, ruled in 1015BC, that is, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, namely two thousand years ago.
- In other words, this woman who identified herself of King Solomon's Inamorata should be around 3000 years old. I have seen many old women Read more
- 'Queen Of Sheba' And A Sh3.4m Hotel Bill
Africa News Servce,Tbe Nation (Kenya), February 2, 2004A woman calling herself the Queen of Sheba, who was released on Sh50,000 bail after being accused of a Sh3.4 million credit scam, has been secretly hustled out of Kenya, it was revealed yesterday.
She was whisked to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by plainclothes police, hidden in a room there and then bundled onto a flight for Amsterdam, police sources said.Her vanishing act leaves the five-star Grand Regency Hotel facing a loss of Sh3.4 million.It was later claimed the woman - real name Dibra Amellia George - had skipped bail after failing to clinch a diamonds deal with relatives and associates of a notorious .Read More
