MPs approve Sh5bn NSSF project in Tassia estate

A picture of Tassia Estate in Nairobi taken on July 31, 2015. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The EACC has been directed to investigate the circumstances under which the NSSF bought the land.
  • The land was brought between 1992 and 1995 but was invaded by squatters in 2001.

Lawmakers have allowed the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to proceed with a Sh5.2 billion road and drainage project in Tassia Estate, Nairobi, as long as it does not spend any of its money on it.

The lawmakers unanimously voted to approve a report of the Public Investments Committee putting strict conditions on the NSSF, whose land was occupied, divided and developed illegally.

Committee chairman Adan Keynan had told MPs when he began debate on the report that the NSSF should not be allowed to spend its money since it had not sold the land willingly.

“For the NSSF to utilise the resources in the project, it must be able to get the resources on behalf of these people, collect from them and utilise. This has worked.

"At least I am proud to say that whatever their minds were leading them into, no penny of the NSSF will be used to develop these plots,” said Mr Keynan.

The committee also recommended that the NSSF collect from the owners of the plots any balances from the payments for the sale of the land.

“The NSSF does not donate water, roads and so on, but the owners of the plots must also pay for the provision of those services,” said Mr Keynan.

EACC TO PROBE ACQUISITION

The EACC has been directed to investigate the circumstances under which the NSSF bought the land from Tassia Coffee Estate Ltd and Nokin Investment Ltd.

“It must bring to the fore all the players who were involved in the acquisition, purchase and development of this to the public,” said Mr Keynan.

The land was brought between 1992 and 1995 but was invaded by squatters in 2001, forcing the NSSF to decide to sell the plots to the occupants by force.

Among the conditions for the approval of the sale by the then City Council of Nairobi was the construction of roads and the provision of proper drainage for the estate.

The Public Investments Committee also took issue with the interference in the affairs of the NSSF by the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services.

Then minister Kazungu Kambi had in 2014 purported to have ordered the NSSF not to proceed with the project, which the committee said amounted to interfering with the mandate of the NSSF.