A Senate committee has lifted a Sh500,000 fine imposed on Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku for snubbing summons.
The Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing chaired by Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa reached the agreement after the governor appeared Thursday.
Lenku said he had planned to attend the Tuesday meeting as ordered but “I was taken ill hence the reason why I failed to show up”.
He even tabled a medical report before the committee as evidence.
The committee was supposed to meet with the Governor in regard to a petition concerning access to title deeds for properties bought at Jamii Bora Estate, Kisaju, Kajiado County.
On July 19, 2023, the committee received a submission from the County Government of Kajiado which did not address the issues sought by members.
On September 26, 2023, the committee wrote a reminder letter to the Governor to submit a comprehensive response to the issues sought by the Committee;
At its meeting held on October 31, 2023, the committee was informed that the Governor had not responded to a reminder request to submit a comprehensive response to the information sought by members.
The committee resolved to invite the Governor to a meeting of the Committee on November 14, 2023, to respond to the issues addressed in the letter.
At its meeting held on November 14, 2023, Lenku failed to appear before the Committee and the Committee resolved to summon the Governor to appear before members on November 27, 2023.
“We should give the Governor of Kajiado the last chance to appear before the committee. I am reliably informed that the Governor was in the Parliament precincts but he was taken ill and rushed to hospital for medical attention,” said the vice chair Peris Tobiko during the committee’s meeting on November 21, 2023.
Jamii Bora Estate has over 900 homes, 500 commercial units, several churches and a mosque, public primary school, public secondary school, public borehole and public playgrounds.
Homeowners claim they have not been given titles to their houses since the developer started to sell them in 2008.
“After they had sold the houses to us, we learnt that the developer took a bank loan that they are not servicing and they charged the title (Kajiado/58/Kajiado/2995) to secure the loan with the bank without our knowledge,” they said in the petition.
They said the developer is still selling the remaining plots within the estate to unsuspecting buyers even as we ask for titles.
The petitioners said some homeowners have died while possessing nothing to prove ownership of their houses to be given to their next of kin.
