There were no transparent means through which land was issued to private developers in Nairobi City County between July 1st 2013 and June 30th 2014.
This is according to a new Auditor General Report titled Report of the Auditor-General On The Financial Operations of Nairobi County Executive for the period 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 which cited lack of records showing how the exercise was carried out.
The report states that there was no documentation to show evidence that the land allocated actually belonged to the current owners. Land LR. No. 209/2531/1, for example, which was initially allocated to the then Municipal Council of Nairobi title NO IR 4786, LR No.209/2531 for a term of 99 years from 1 October, 1929 to 1 October, 2028 measuring 20.5 acres is now occupied by Highways stores. The report says
“On 18 June, 1952 the Kenya Meat commission was allocated part of the land measuring 2.5 acres: – On 10 October, 1969, 9.5 acres was allocated to St Peter Claviers’ and Muthurwa Primary Schools.”
The Auditor General further reveals that properties on some of the parcels of land that were allocated to private developers by the then defunct City Council of Nairobi have since been demolished.
Further revelations indicate that a portion of the remainders of the land 8.5 acres has been allocated to unknown private developers including part of Country Bus Station phase 2 and part of the Nairobi City County department.
Other parcels of land that were allocated to private developers included Highridge Health Centre; where the health centre was demolished and the parcel of land allocated to private developers. According to the report, the records on this allocation were not made available.
Another property in question was the Nanyuki Roads Store and Depots which sits on a piece of land originally reserved for road maintenance materials and it was demarcated and 1.227Ha. The property was, however, hived off and allocated to a petroleum firm
According to the Auditor General, the report sought to assess the adequacy and reliability of the systems of management and financial controls in handling public resources as well as running the operations of the county governments and ascertain the integrity and reliability of financial and other information used by management in the utilization of public funds.
Key areas of scrutiny within the survey included management of cash and bank accounts at county level, management of assets under the control of the County Government, whether the county governments complied with the procurement laws in process of acquisition of goods, works and services.
Besides, the report assessed the compliance with Public Financial Management Act, 2012 in the utilization of public funds as well as compliance with other relevant laws and regulations.
But National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich faulted the Auditor General report, saying no money was lost in the period under review.
“We have since established that most ministries, departments and agencies provided the necessary supportive documents to office of the Auditor General during the final stages of audit review but these were not taken into account before the report was submitted to the National Assembly,”
said the CS in a Press statement to newsrooms.
Perhaps the Nairobi County Executive should come out to clear the air regarding the anomalies to the public and also present the evidence of proper land management to the Auditor General other the arm of the law should take its course and lead to prosecutions of those found culpable of abuse of abuse.
