Audit exposes NHC houses scam
Employees of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) have been allocating themselves and their relatives houses at the expense of more deserving Kenyans, an audit report has revealed.
The audit shows that 78 members of staff have multiple allocations totalling 209 units, with one senior member of staff having seven houses in her name and 14 others allocated to relatives.
Three people have been allocated between five and six houses each, the report says.
“This assignment has also revealed that, going by sampling of eight housing schemes, over 50 per cent of all allocations on NHC schemes are likely to go to persons who never met the minimum requirements and that nearly a quarter of applicants will miss being allocated a house though they meet the requirements,” the audit adds.
The report titled “Distortions in House Allocation: Report of House Allocation Process at the National Housing Corporation” by the Board Audit Committee says that in every scheme, 10 to 20 per cent of the housing units are reserved for NHC staff, though these do not always go to them.
Special cases
“This exercise has also shown an entrenched practice in which about 10 per cent of units in every scheme will be reserved as “special cases” at the discretion of the managing director, purportedly to be allocated to high level personalities making requests for allocation,” it says.
The findings show that the house allocation process is flawed and has loopholes resulting in significant distortions.
Names of some individuals who did not even apply for the houses are introduced during the House Allocation Committee meetings and end up as beneficiaries of the units despite the fact that they had neither applied nor paid deposits.
The report says that a significant proportion of applicants who had the required deposits were not successful. “In eight schemes, 55 individuals representing seven per cent were allocated houses.
“The practice of introducing non-applicants makes the whole process of setting minimum requirements and criteria mere public relations exercise,” the audit reveals.
The report recommends that the House Allocation Committee be disbanded and reconstituted and should be chaired by a general manager nominated by the managing director and approved by the board.
