Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Tuesday suspended 15 county employees including senior officials who were linked to a land grabbing syndicate that has left some property owners homeless after the expiry of their leases.
Among those sent on compulsory leave are Lands Chief Officer Stephen Mwangi, Legal Services Director Karisa Iha, senior lawyers Nyagara Nyamweya, Violet Oyangi, Evans Mogire, John Ombogi and Principal Counsel Newton Mungai.
Besides suspending the officers, Governor Sonko also locked 200 other workers out of their offices to pave the way for investigations at the county assembly
Staff affected are in the lands, rates, legal, debt collection and urban planning departments.
On Saturday, Sonko revealed that county workers in the various county office departments were intentionally tampering with records on prime properties belonging to certain individuals.
The county workers, Mr Sonko noted, would delete records that proved the property owners had paid the rents and insert false debts on the payment
He was speaking on Ngong Road where he had rushed to the rescue of tenants and a property owner who were involved in a confrontation with auctioneers over 8.5 acres comprising eight houses.
"These county officers must be sent on a compulsory leave to pave the way for investigations to be conducted," he noted adding that thorough investigations into the matter must be done.
Speaking at the same venue, Governor Sonko also named three individuals involved in the land syndicate that has seen over ten families lose property since 2013 over cases of expired leases.
Among them are former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero's cousin, Emmanuel Okello, Kidero's lawyer Tom Onyango and controversial businessman Raju Sanghani.
He stated that the two of the individuals are directors of several companies that bought prime land and property from people illegally.
