NSSF bought land exorbitantly, Mogere tells MPs

By ROSELYNE OBALA

Kenya: Contributors to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) may have lost millions of money in the controversial Tassia II land when it was bought in early 1990s.

A former Managing Trustee, Naftali Mogere, said the Sh2.2 billion price for the purchase was way beyond the market price at the time.

This may add a new twist to the saga, which is currently under investigations by two Parliamentary committees; Public Investment Committee (PIC) and Labour and Social Welfare.

Mr Mogere told the Labour committee that the land bought by the pension fund between 1992 and 1995 was inflated.

“During that period, NSSF bought the land at Sh2.2 billion, this was the market price for the same piece of land in 2005,” he said.

He told the David Were (Matungu)-chaired committee that only internal valuers did the actual valuation of the land.  “At that time, NSSF did not get value for money. This was not the best price because it was way beyond the market value,” he stated.

Mogere, who served as the NSSF Managing Trustee between 2002 and 2005, said most land bought in 1990 by NSSF had been overpriced. He cited land in Athi-River, Ngong, Karura Forest and Mlolongo, which he said were all bought though a very high price than the market rate.

He also said NSSF was investing in buying large pieces of land without having any adequate plans. Responding to questions fielded by the legislators, he astonished them when he claimed that NSSF could not also locate some of the land bought, adding that others had no ideals to determine the size of the land.

Kabete MP George Muchai inquired over the pricing at the time of purchase. He asked if at the time of purchase, NSSF had value for money as an acre was going for Sh6 million, totaling to Sh2.2 billion for the 350 acres bought.

The former trustee boss explained to the lawmakers that the decision to sell the Tassia 11 land to squatters was because of the pressure they were getting from Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) to liquidate the land.

He said RBA had pressured the fund officials that they needed to have liquid cash, as they are a pension fund scheme and needed to pay beneficiaries.

The gravity of the mater saw the board sell the land to squatters at Sh315,000 as un-serviced. “The decision to sell the land to squatters came after the late former Embakasi MP David Mwenje stormed into my office and put a proposal to have the squatters who had settled there be sold the land to avoid eviction,” he said.