About 20 prime properties in Nairobi’s Parklands area alone worth close to Sh1 billion have been grabbed.
Well-connected cartels had already grabbed the properties before the dramatic Sunday demolition of Nazmudin Kurji’s home.
Most have ended up in court, where the disinherited legitimate owners are forced to defend the homes they were born and raised in, but are now being claimed by the vicious cartels.
Kurji’s home was acquired for about Sh100,000 – payable for the renewal of the lease even though the actual value is about Sh80 million.
In all the cases, a now-familiar scheme has been used, hatched between well-connected individuals and Government officials – from the county and the Ministry of Lands, which is the custodian of title deeds and leases.
FIRST SETTLERS
Parklands Ward MCA Jaffer Kassam told The Standard of several attempts to illegally dispossess the largely Asian population whose parents were among the first settlers in Nairobi.
“Small notices (inviting views from interested parties), which are very easy to miss, are placed in the (news)papers,” Mr Kassam said of the near-perfect schemes.
Victims miss the notices only to be ambushed by the supposed new owners who show up with fraudulently-acquired lease renewals.
The Ministry of Lands is required by law to seek any objections to a request for a lease renewal, including from neighbours and the respective county governments, in this case City Hall.
Possible objections could be based on requirements by the county for alternative public use such as expansion of roads on the property, in which case the owner is compensated for the developments.
Without a valid objection to renewal and upon confirmation that the holder has adhered to the specific conditions when the original lease was granted, a renewal is given at a ‘minimal cost’.
Such fees include standard conveyance and approval charges of Sh1,250 and Sh5,000 respectively, and stand premium, which is a percentage of the current values.
Interviews with various agencies have shown that the dispossession of property whose leases have expired is cheap and incredibly simple, aided in part by ignorance among legitimate owners.
National Land Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri said the expenses payable are only to cover administrative costs.
“Any fees charged for renewal or extension of leases is a minimal charge to cover our administrative costs,” Dr Swazuri said.
NLC is charged with the administration of land that includes renewal of leases, a role inherited from the powerful office of the Commissioner for Lands.
Duplication of roles between the Ministry of Land and NLC means that the two institutions could easily be compromised, as the former is still the custodian of records required by the latter in decision-making.
In the case of the Kurjis, NLC has already made a pronouncement affirming their legitimate ownership.
Investigations into the actual sequence of events are underway, with the suspect, Francis Nyaga, already charged in a Nairobi Court.
Officials from the NLC have indicated the weakness in the structure that has been exploited by criminals to steal property from unsuspecting owners.
Requests for renewals are often made through the regional authority, giving officials the first information about the emerging opportunity for grabbing.
Counties also have information about the leases issued by the Ministry of Lands for the purposes of evaluating the payable rates, providing another platform for officials to learn about property whose leases are either expired or are about to.
At the centre of the fraud is the knowledge by the grabbers that the lease held has expired, and the technicality that the holder does not have a legitimate claim on the property.
But the law also demands that the holder of the expired lease be granted the first chance to seek a renewal.
RECORDS PRESENTED
The same law does not, however, specify how the owner of the property should be notified, meaning that NLC would rely on the records presented by the ministry.
A falsification of the records would mean that anyone whose names appears on the records is assumed to be the legitimate owner.
Often, heirs of properties whose leases were granted as early as 1900 are unlikely to know when the leases expire.
– standardmedia.co.ke
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