Land scandal started off as part of noble move

A well-intentioned idea by City Hall to buy cemetery land ended up providing an avenue for fraudsters to swindle taxpayers of a whopping Sh260 million.

Audit reports by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (Kacc) and the Controller and Auditor General detail how the tendering process was infiltrated by shadowy middlemen working in cahoots with City Hall and government officials eager to make a killing.

The reports reveal how the conspirators inflated the cost of the land, hastened the release of the money, and paid the purported seller about a third of the quoted price before sharing the balance among themselves. At all times, government procurement procedures were either bent or overlooked altogether.

According to the Controller and Auditor General’s report, the idea of purchasing cemetery land, preferably within Nairobi, was first broached at a City Hall meeting in May, 2005, because the Langata cemetery was running out of burial space.

When it failed to identify such land within Nairobi, City Hall decided to extend the scope to the Nairobi Metropolis, meaning such land could now be obtained in adjoining districts such as Thika, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos, and Kangundo.

But the land had to meet certain mandatory requirements, including being at least 50 acres under one title deed, accessible by an all weather road, and supplied with water, electricity and telephone services. Besides, the soil depth had to be six feet, the report states.

An advertisement placed in the local dailies in September, 2008, attracted 12 bids but none met soil depth or all-weather road access requirements.

According to the Controller and Auditor General’s report, the sixth lowest bidder, Naen Rech Ltd, was declared the winner despite protests from the city planning department that no bidder had offered land suitable for cemetery use.

Naen Rech Ltd had offered 120 acres at Sh283 million — Sh259 million in excess of the independent valuation which put its market price at Sh24 million.

According to the report, the tender committee based its decision on a valuation conducted by one Mr A Otieno, who was passed off as a valuer at the Lands ministry. Subsequent investigations revealed that there was no such valuer at the ministry and that the valuation report had been forged.

Whereas the “winning” bidder was Naen Rech Ltd, the land was registered in the name of one Henry Musyoki Kilonzi, who duly turned up on December 19, 2008, to sign the sale agreement with City Hall.

“It has not been explained why the agreement or sale was signed by Mr Henry Musyoki Kilonzi while the tender had been awarded to M/S Naen Rech Ltd,” the auditors point out.

According to the audit report, Mr Kilonzi was to receive only Sh107 million while the balance of Sh175 million was shared out by unknown entities.

The more detailed Kacc report takes note of the protests lodged by the director of City Planning, Mr Patrick Tom Odongo, and the director of the Forward Planning Section, Mr John Koyier Barreh.

Kacc interviewed City Hall’s senior funeral superintendent, Mr David Mukuri Wanjohi, who also ruled that the soil profile of the land in question made it unsuitable for a cemetery.

According to the anti-graft agency, the ministry of Local Government released Sh283 million for the land to the town clerk for onward transmission to City Hall’s lawyer, Mr Edward Omotii of Omotii and Company Advocates, in two cheques of Sh175 million and Sh173 million.

Kacc accuses senior officials at the ministries of Local Government and Finance, and at City Hall of conspiring with lawyers to defraud the government of Sh173 million.

Once in possession of the Sh173 million, Mr Omotii is reported to have wired the money to a number of lawyers and businessmen fronting for the senior officials.