Governor Nyong’o dilemma as list of defaulters sparks debate

Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o at a past function.

Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o is racing against time to quell a storm swirling over a controversial list of shame containing personalities who reportedly owe his government Sh13.8 billion in unpaid land rates.

The inclusion of the family of Kenya’s first Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga among the defaulters has generated political heat, forcing the governor to publicly apologise to the family as he blamed his staff of publicising the list without his approval.

One week after the list with more than 500 alleged land rate defaulters was published in a local daily, tension continues to rise at Prosperity House – the county headquarters – as Prof  Nyong’o and his team mull over placing another advertisement to counter the earlier one.

The list has put Nyong’o in an awkward position given that it had been compiled by members of a Lands Taskforce he formed to investigate land allocations and related issues in the county.

The list had also been studied by Nyong’o’s senior staff before it was released to the media.

Balancing acts

“By disowning the list and apologising, the governor is also disowning the task force whose members spent tax payers money investigating and compiling land issues in the county. He must do a lot of balancing acts,” said a senior officer at Prosperity House who requested anonymity.

Besides the Odinga family, the list had names of prominent Nyanza politicians, State agencies, church leaders and private companies, some of which owe the county millions of shillings in unpaid rates.

A member of the task force who also sought anonymity said the issue is delicate, given that some of those named may use Nyong’o’s apology to seek legal redress over the money they owe the county government.

But the task force Secretary Nicholas Migot and Nyongo’s Director of Communication Aloice Ager downplayed the matter, saying it was being handled professionally.

“We are handling it. We may re-publish it after it is scrutinised by the cabinet,” Mr Ager said.

Mr Migot said there was no cause for alarm.

“People who were mentioned are paying the rates. We are moving on,” he told Sunday Standard in a telephone interview.

Ruth Odinga, a senior official at the county government and Jaramogi’s daughter, protested the inclusion of the family in the list.

It has also emerged that putting the Odinga’s in the list may have irked the family because successive Kisumu Municipal Councils had exempted it from paying land rates because of Jaramogi’s immense contribution to the development of Kisumu.

A former chairman of the Nyong’o land taskforce George Weda, who is also a former councilor in Kisumu, said Jaramogi’s family was exempted from paying land rates during a full council meeting in 2009.

“I was in that meeting that exempted the late Jaramogi from paying rates for any of his plots in the town and the vicinity. We had minutes and it was unanimously passed. We made this decision because Jaramogi had donated a lot of his land for the expansion of the town,” Weda said.

“Jaramogi played a big role in the establishment of the referral hospital - now renamed after him. I just don’t know how his name got into the list. Maybe these people did not know,” he told Sunday Standard yesterday.

Weda said the Municipal Council had also exempted land parcels in the neighborhoods of Kolwa, Kajulu, Kogony, Korando and parts of Dunga from paying rates because they were not benefiting from services rendered by the municipality then.

These claims could not be independently verified as efforts  to get the said minutes of the Full Council meeting were futile.

Nyong’o termed the list of 581 people owing the county government close to Sh12 billion as a draft report which was not meant for public consumption.

The list indicated that Jaramogi’s family has defaultedpayment of Sh7,774,099 on his parcel named Bloc 12/222 in Kisumu town.

The list signed by County Secretary Dr Olang’o Onudi also mentioned Oburu Oginga as owing the county government Sh295,743 from his parcel named Bloc 7/509.