President Uhuru Kenyatta's affordable housing project may be under threat after it was discovered that some of the houses that the government built were on lands without any documentation.
Thousands of houses built on 52 parcels of land in different parts of the country were said to have been constructed before the government received relevant documentation to lay claim of the land.
This information came to light on Tuesday, September 17, during a meeting between the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee (PIC) and the National Housing Corporation (NHC).
The NHC team led by Andrew Saisi who is the commissions Chief Executive Officer was out to clear the air on audit queries for the financial year 2013/2014.
NHC presented documents to PIC chairperson Abulswamad Nassir indicating that they had built houses on 48 parcels of land without obtaining title deeds.
Nassir further questioned how the projects were approved without proper documentation.
Former Auditor-General Edward Ouko says in his report, tabled before the team, that the 52 parcels were not valued since their owners were unknown.
“It is dangerous that the government developed houses in 48 places without title deeds. The questions that immediately comes up is how the housing corporation got approvals to proceed with the projects.
“We need clarification when these houses were built and who was in charge so that we know where to place the blame,” Nassir noted.
According to the PIC, houses that were likely to be affected included Kibera Highrise, and the units in Lang’ata phases two, three and six, which have been fully developed.
Meanwhile, the plots in Mavoko do not have title deeds.
Other houses at risk are those in Siaya, Kitui, Homa Bay, Nambale, Sirisia, Ndhiwa, Oyugis, Mole, Kapsabet, Iten and Kipkelion.
