Twenty-six Governors are reportedly facing eviction from their offices in Delta House, Westlands over rent arrears totaling Ksh44,763,088.
The counties with offices at Delta House include Baringo, Bomet, Bungoma, Isiolo, Kericho, Kisii, Kisumu, Kitui, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Meru, Migori, Mombasa, Nakuru, Narok, Nyamira, Nyeri, Samburu, Siaya, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, Turkana, Vihiga, Wajir and Kirinyaga.
This comes after their eviction notice lapsed on June 6.
The manager of the property, Knight Frank, wrote to the Council of Governors (CoG) on June 4 stating,
“In the event that the outstanding debt is not paid in full by the aforementioned date, we have instructions from the landlord to withhold services in addition to taking other legal measures provided in the lease to recover the same”.
In another letter dated June 7, CoG Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Mogeni also wrote to the governors requesting them to clear their rent arrears.
“The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention the aforementioned demand from Knight Frank(landlord) and request that you urgently clear your outstanding arrears to avoid embarrassment o the council” the letter read in part.
Kitui county has the largest debt ( Ksh 4,743,787) from July 2017 to June this year. Taita Taveta follows with a debt of Ksh 3,568,893, Nyamira owes Ksh3,567,683 while Tharaka Nithi owes Ksh184,879.
Out of all the counties with offices at Delta House, Kirinyaga is the only one without rent arrears.
The Standard indicates that counties with governors who came into office in 2017 have bigger debts compared to second term governors.
