Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly (MCA), Robert Alai, on Thursday, April 20, challenged Nairobi governor, Johnson Sakaja's, Pangani Urban Renewal Housing Project.
Among the issues raised by Alai included the provision of land to developers, loan acquisition and title deed management, which he claimed were not well contextualised within the law.
In a four-page document seen by Kenyans.co.ke, Alai claimed that the Motion passed on Wednesday, April 19, technically allowed Governor Sakaja and his administration to engage in unsupervised loan acquisition and misuse of public assets that may eventually turn into a full-blown scandal.
"On April 19, Nairobi City County Assembly passed a motion which on paper might look harmless and well-intentioned but has all the hallmarks of an illegality thrown to the Honourable Members of the Nairobi City County Assembly to approve for the Executive to open an avenue which is going to see the misuse of Nairobi County deed of assets by private businessmen," Alai alleged.
The Kileleshwa MCA stated that the Motion delivered a blank cheque to the Nairobi City County to enter such arrangements to use county assets as collateral.
"This is a huge alarm of impending acts of corruption which has been legalised and will never stop if the county still has assets," Alai claimed.
In particular, Alai stated that MCAs permitted Nairobi City County Government to provide land for the projects while the developers are to raise funds and implement the projects, a legal provision that gave developers more powers over the devolved unit.
Alai noted that Nairobi City County Assembly issued developers a title deed to secure themselves against financial obligations arising from their undertaking.
Sakaja's administration was also accused of lacking a legal asset register indicating what properties it owns, their location and where current status.
"This has allowed the assets to be leased, sold, and even grabbed by others with the help of officers who should secure the same," read part of Alai's statement.
Regarding financing the project, Alai stated that the MCAs did put the assets of Nairobi County at risk as they would be used as collateral without any further reference to the County Assembly.
"The motion moved by the Honourable Majority Leader in the Nairobi City County Assembly approves an alleged Nairobi City County Cabinet resolution recommending the County to give a developer currently involved in the construction of Pangani Urban Renewal Housing Project to use the title deed of the land being developed now to secure a loan which is being obtained from a local bank," Alai claimed.
Therefore, Alai demanded the recalling of the motion to amend it for fresh processing and righting of the wrongs or introducing a complementary motion that will introduce stringent conditions under which such transactions will be handled.
He also asked the MCA to audit all county assets to create a register that can be accessed digitally. Sakaja and Nairobi County were yet to address Alai's claims by the time of publishing this article.
