Kajiado property owners given 30 days to pay rent arrears

Kajiado County Governor Joseph Ole Lenku and Finance Executive Alais Kisota after they appeared before a Senate Committee recently. [File, Standard]

Kajiado property owners have been given 30 days to pay all rent arrears owed to the county.

Finance and Economic Planning CEC Member Alais Kisota said those who fail to comply in the 30 days will face numerous restrictions to be implemented by the county starting this November.

According to Kisota, any land or property with land rate or ground rent arrears owed to the county will not be approved for subdivision, sale or any other transactions as stipulated in the new restrictions.

The CEC said the latest directive is meant to shore up the County's land revenue which is currently at a performance of less than 30 per cent.

Mr Kisota said the target for the land-related revenue is Sh270 million yet the county collected only Sh74 million in the last Financial year.

"The low collection was necessitated by waivers and other exemptions that began in 2020 when the coronavirus hit the country. The situation has since changed," said Kisota.

He added that the devolved unit had already transmitted invoices to landowners and continues to do so through the Department of Revenue.

" We are not introducing any additional charges neither are we implementing any new law. We are only implementing laws that already exist, " clarified the minister.

He acknowledged that some residents and MCAs have raised queries over the invoices based on misinformation.

"Some are even politicising and spreading rumours that we have new taxes on land with freehold titles. This is meant to whip emotions but from where I sit, we are only doing what we are supposed to do each fiscal year," he said.

Mr Kisota said the county was implementing the Kajiado County Rating Act (2016) and the Kajiado County Finance Act (2023) which to him, are not new laws.

“These are laws that underwent public participation and were passed by the then County Assemblies," he said.

The CEC said the county is under a strict directive by the Commission on Revenue Allocation and the Controller of Budget to maximise its source of revenue in this case, land which is a major resource in the County and therefore a critical revenue stream.

The minister lamented that most of those complaining about the Roland rates had failed to take advantage of the waivers that the government issues from time to time.

"We regularly announce a one-month window for 100 per cent waivers on arrears but many landowners do not respond to it. At the moment, we have no waiver," he said.