The Embu Assembly has made an effort to compile a list of every house owned by the county government.
This follows an incident where a county employee from Embu was evicted from a home because the management of government housing had not received sh200,000. Lenny Masters, the MCA for Kambere, acknowledged in an interview that a group deployed by the management team of the government home carried out the eviction of the county employees.
“It’s terrible that the personnel have to move. This motivated me to make a motion to expose corruption cartels that extort money but do not remit it “Masters remarked.
The MCAs observed in the motion at the assembly that the failure to document publicly owned residential flats, estates, market stalls, and shops continues to cause Embu County Government to suffer enormous financial losses. The shocking results also revealed that the structures had either been illegally taken over or sold off, leaving the county without a list of renters or a way to locate the properties they call home.
Ward Representatives who participated in the motion made by the Nominated MCA on behalf of Masters Jennifer Njimiah raised concern over County house tenants who had not been making rent payments for the last 15 years because there were no records of them. Runyenjes Central MCA Edwin Kamuti remarked, “The County has no rent record to tell legislators throughout the budget making process on how much revenue is predicted from government properties.”
According to Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh, the majority of the homes in his Kirimari Ward are on enviable lots. Agnes Gakungugu, a candidate for MCA, said that some people at the former Local Authorities had sold public houses.
The County Executive must now comply with a directive from the Assembly to give details on all public estates and market stalls, including names of tenants, location ownership documentation, and rent paid over the previous two years, within the next 30 days.
MCA Ruguru-Ngandori The vice chairman of the Lands and Housing Sectoral Committee, Muturi Mwombo, promised to move the subject along quickly and report back to the house within the allotted time frames.