By Antynet Ford
Anxiety among three thousand home buyers of the Pangani and Jevanjee affordable housing projects could soon rise after the Nairobi City County government failed to account for the title deeds of the two projects.
Officers from the County government, led by the County Executive Committee Member for urban planning and built environment Patrick Mbogo, and his chief officers, told the assembly planning committee that the county does not have the two important documents for the projects that stalled over two years ago.
In their response to the committee, they said that former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko has the Jevanjee Estate title deed while they do not know where the Pangani Affordable Housing Title deed is.
“Title deeds for Pangani and Jevanjee housing projects are missing and the officers from the executive have told us that former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko took the title for Jevanjee which shocked us. Why would a governor take a title deed for the county?” Kitisuru Member of County Assembly Alvin Olando said.
According to the assembly minority leader and Waithaka MCA Anthony Kiragu, it is absurd that the county government officers who are supposed to safeguard ownership documents of the county cannot show the record of the same.
The legislature termed the allegation that former governor Mike Sonko had the Jevanjee title deed as ‘Comedy’ which needs to be proved.
“The county of Nairobi is getting into contracts that never come to an end. The people of Nairobi paid money to developers more than four years ago for three thousand houses and, shockingly, even county officers have no record of land ownership. They are giving stories that are short of comedy such as someone saying the former governor has the title deed. They need to give us evidence for that even as we embark on new projects in the city so that we do not become a channel of developers conning Nairobians.” Kiragu said.
Kiragu said the three thousand houses for Jevanjee and Pangani need to be handed over to the owners as soon as possible after they are complete before the county embarks on any other affordable housing project.
The planning committee said they will not side with the developers coning the people of Nairobi.
The MCAs dismissed the claims that the houses have been sold to them adding that the county might not be having intentions to sell the houses but con Nairobians.
“MCAs have not bought any of those houses as it has been claimed and we even suspect that they had no intention of selling them but to steal county land.” Kiragu stated.
The developer (Tecnofin) for the two affordable housing project had requested for the title deeds to be used as a collateral for a loan to complete the projects.
Tecnofin had run out of cash saying they were facing financial changes from what they termed as fast pace of the project.
An attempt through the Nairobi City County Assembly to facilitate access to funding failed to materialize after the court ruled against using the project’s title as security.
The development was to resume last month but the MCA’s said it is still stalled a month after the developer confirmed resumption.
This comes as on April 19, 2023, the Nairobi City County Assembly passed a motion to allow title deeds of the Nairobi Urban Renewal Projects, where the Pangani Affordable Housing Project falls, to be used as security by developers to access funding.
However, a civil society group, Sheria na Watu, filed a case with the Environmental and Lands Court on May 10, 2023, against the Nairobi City County Government and the Nairobi City County Assembly arguing that the move by the latter is unconstitutional.
The court heard that the National Lands Commission was never involved in the process yet it is the custodian of public land.
“It was contended that prior to the approval of the said resolution by the second Respondent, no authorization was obtained from the third respondent to offer the title of the intended Pangani Urban Renewal Project as collateral, for the benefit of the developers, who are private entities.” The judgement stated in part.
Article 62 (2) of the Constitution states that public land shall vest in and be held by a county government in trust for the people resident in the county and shall be administered on their behalf by the National Lands Commission.