Governor Lenku: “Go Forth You Are Forgiven
Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku Thursday breathed a sigh of relief after a Senate Committee absolved him of all his sins of omission and commission.
This after the Kajiado Governor finally appeared before Senate Committee of Roads, Transportation and Housing after several failed attempts to have him appear before the committee to explain issues pertaining the petition on issuance of title deeds by residents of Jamii Bora Housing in Kisaju, Kajiado County.
The committee had imposed a suspended fine of Ksh. 500,000/- to Kajiado Governor for failure to attend the committee meetings. The governor was supposed to attend the committee meeting on Tuesday 28th November but he was taken ill and failed to show up to the meeting. Governor Lenku produced medical record to the chairperson of the committee, and the fine was lifted by the committee.
Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku asked the Senate Committee to compel a Jamii Bora/Kisaju View/ Jamii Bora Trust Housing scheme to submit official documents of the land they are developing.
“Jamii Bora Housing developers undertook the project without county government’s approval, therefore the project is illegally constructed,” said Governor Lenku.
County Government of Kajiado charged that Housing scheme which has been operating on three different names for their convenience to pay Ksh. 260 million being the land rates for the years 2013-2023.
Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku termed the proprietors of Jamii Bora Housing Scheme as fraudsters, he said that they never submitted the mother title deeds for the land before they sold the houses to Kisaju estate home owners. Governor Lenku accused the Housing project developer for changing names to evade taxation and continue to dupe Kenyans, adding that they have also made it difficult for the county to transact or engage in meaningful settlements.
“Jamii Bora Trust are not coming to you with clean hands. They should be compelled to provide legal documents. He who seeks equity must come with clean hands,” said Lenku.
Most developments have been undertaken without County approval and the ones sanctioned by the defunct local authority have lapsed. Developments approved by the defunct local authority need to be validated and approved afresh to continue with any further developments and redevelopments, said the governor.
“The waiver should benefit all the petitioners. The proprietors are fraudsters. The County should transfer benefit to the petitioners,” said Nominated Peris Tobiko who is also the committee vice chairperson.”
Lenku told the committee that Jamii Bora is managing 2000 units which now qualify the area to be managed by the County going by the threshold of the Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011 (revised in 2019). He further argued that the township should be managed by the County for progressive review of development needs while recognizing an existence of private entities.
In addition, Lenku was categorical that in line with the County Governments laws, Physical and Use Planning Act and the Urban Areas and Cities Act the County shall undertake site pickings to determine existing developments on site, collect/register property owners and compel production of revised building plans.
On ownership, Lenku told the committee that the project was initiated by Jamii Bora Makao and that subsequent years have witnessed several transitions of ownership by successful management that include Kisaju View Park Limited and later Jamii Bora Trust.
Governor Lenku’s submission gave way to Senators who took issue with the developer saying that the county government should give waiver on the developer so that buyers of the units can be protected.
“This transitioning has made it difficult to follow up on matters related to statutory payments and follow up on compliance issues. The land occupied has two titles: Kajiado Kisaju 58 and Kajiado 2995 registered under Jamii Bora Makao,” said Lenku.
According to the submissions of Lenku, Jamii Bora submitted a request in 2004 and made a payment of Sh2.9million for sub-division and a further Sh1.95million for building plans approvals.
“We do not have any records of the scheme plan submitted for approval since physical planning had not been devolved by then.”
Kajiado County now wants the Senate to compel Jamii Bora to allow the County to undertake site picking of the existing development, evaluate the number of units developed on site and submit subdivision scheme plan for the site.
“We have mutation plans for parcel No 2995 and a registry index map for the parcel no Kajiado/Kisaju 58 that hold two properties for Jamii Bora. The County requests the Senate to compel Jamii Bora to submit the revised scheme plan and statutory payments which they have not done to date,” said Lenku.
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