Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's Ksh498 million prime pieces of land located in Upper Hill, Nairobi are under threat of being seized following an investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission's (EACC).
According to a report by the Daily Nation on Sunday, May 8, the properties reportedly once belonged to Kenya Railways pensioners before being sold to Governor Mike Sonko in a way that EACC finds suspect.
The Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme (KRSRBS) insists the sale of the land was procedural and Sonko even paid a downpayment of Ksh144.6 million after which he moved into the property.
The EACC has nevertheless stopped further transactions between Sonko and the retirements scheme and started investigations to unearth exactly how Sonko came to access the process.
The commission is also reported to be investigating the source of the Ksh144.6 million that Sonko had so far paid out of the Ksh498.5 million purchase price.
The properties landing Sonko on the EACC radar are two subplots measuring 0.3001 hectares and 0.2025 hectares from the land, LR 209/6507, on Matumbato Road, Upper Hill.
For the 0.3001 hectares, the purchase price was Ksh298 million while the second subplot was being sold at Ksh200.5 million with the sale agreements for both pieces being signed on April 30, 2019, through a Sonko-linked company Primix Ltd.
In both agreements, the buyer was required to settle the purchase price within 90 days of the signing of the contract, which would have been July 29, 2019, but a year later, the purchase price had not been fully paid even though Sonko lived on the property.
Sonko, however, insisted that the property war was political owing to his run-ins with the government since the formation of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), stating that state officials were looking to punish him.
“I believe the reports and alleged probe are malicious and maybe a move to intimidate me to go slow on some of the political and legal decisions I have taken in the last few weeks.
"Most specific to my predicament is my position on the transfer of functions to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) and refusal to assent the Supplementary Appropriations Bill, 2020 into law,” he stated.
The KRSRBS urged the EACC to expedite investigations with the insistence that pensioners would not get their dues unless the balance of the purchase price was paid.
“As a scheme that is going through dire financial issues, we are hoping that the investigations will be expedited so that we can move forward. The pensioners have not been paid for 11 months now and we depend on property sales for survival,” KRSRBS acting CEO, Victoria Mulwa was quoted.
