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Nairobi MCAs ask Eacc to probe sale of Sh1.4b Mariakani Estate

March 16th, 2016 2 min read

The Nairobi County Assembly wants the anti-corruption agency to investigate the sale of Mariakani Estate in South B for Sh1.4 billion by the defunct city council to two pension schemes.

Last year, Nairobi South Ward Rep Manoah Mboku sought a report on the matter from the Sectoral Committee on Planning and Housing. The report was, however, rejected by the assembly.

The report was recently brought to the House for the second time.

According to the chairman of the team, Mr Jairo Atenya, the defunct city council failed to pay Sh7.1 billion it owed the Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund) and the Local Authorities Pension Trust (Laptrust), hence they could not be allocated Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) money.

“A total of about Sh5 billion was due to Laptrust, and the city treasurer reported that Sh2.1 billion was due to Lapfund. The amount owed needed to be paid for the council to obtain clearance to receive LATF money,” said Mr Atenya.

SETTLING DEBTS

Mr Atenya said the city council needed the LATF cash to be used for service delivery, building capacity and also settling debts.

Mr Mboku told the assembly that the defunct city council committed a forgery in transferring the estate to the pension funds over a statutory debt as the transaction was done on April 3, 2013, after county government had taken over.

The House was informed that the signatories of the transfer included former Mayor George Aladwa, Embakasi Ward Rep Michael Ogada, Moyale MP Roba Duba.

“The signatories were not in power in April 2013, as councils had already been done away with. Let the committee tell this House how they ended up signing the document,” said Mr Mboku.

He added that Mr Roba Duba had, however, denied having appended his signature during the dates cited, hence wants the transfer to be declared null and void and the estate returned to the county.

UNDERVALUED

Mr Mboku said according to the national valuer, the property was worth Sh10 billion, hence it was undervalued by the council.

He said the committee had done a shoddy job and was taking the House for granted by recycling the same report they rejected, and wants the Speaker to hand the investigation to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, instead.

Viwandani Ward Rep Samwel Nyangwara said a plot in South B costs Sh12 million, and selling the Marikani Estate shows impunity on the part of the council.