The Environment and Lands Court issued property owners in Kisumu with an injunction suspending new county government property rates.
This was after John Michael Obure, a resident of Kisumu, moved to court opposing the recently gazetted Draft Evaluation Roll by the Kisumu county government.
The Roll refers to a legal document that consists of property information of all relatable properties within the boundaries of a municipality.
Represented by former President of the Law Society of Kenya, Isaac Okero, Obure had laid six grounds on his case. He argued that property owners in Kisumu will have to pay rates increased up to 7,275 percent on free hold land and 5,343 percent on leasehold land.
He feels that if his case is not urgently heard, the public will have to deal with increased cost of living as well as reduced business competition in the county. Obure also said that the county government requires objection to its Draft Valuation Roll 2017 be lodged within 28 days.
The Gazette Notice dated December 24, 2020, was laid before the Kisumu County Assembly and has been made available for public inspection at the Town Hall and the respective sub-county offices.
In a recent case presented before the Environment and Lands Court, Laikipia East former Member of Parliament, was charged with stealing a title deed from the Ministry of Lands Headquarters at Ardhi House. He appeared before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku on Thursday, January 14, 2021.
The land said to have been stolen was valued at Ksh 18.8 million. The legislator denied the charges against him and was released on a Ksh 300,000 bail or Ksh 1 million bond.
Mutahi has been in the limelight with land ownership controversies as he has been in court over the issue a number of times since 2017.
