We are not fighting any land rate defaulter in Kisumu, says task force.

 Members of the Kisumu County Task Force on land address the press in Kisumu today where they have said it is not fighting any land rate defaulter in Kisumu including the family of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who has been named as one of the defaulters-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo.

By Dickson Odhiambo.

November 26, 2018.

We are not fighting any land rate defaulter in Kisumu, says task force.

THE Task force on land that Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang Nyong’o recently appointed has stated that it is not fighting any land rate defaulter in Kisumu including the family of the doyen of Opposition Politics in the country the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

The County Government of Kisumu last week published the names of over 1800 land rate defaulters in a local daily newspaper, with some of the names include that of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Kisumu Governor Prof Peter Anyang Nyong'o.

The task force has said however, all those land rate defaulters whose names have been published by the task force will have to pay the land rate arrears they owe the county Government of Kisumu.

Addressing the media in Kisumu today, a member of the task force Dr. Kennedy Hongo said there are certain letters written to some defaulters asking them to clear their arrears.

He confirms that there are some defaulters who have not received the letters including the family of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, adding that they had not completed sending the letters to the land rate defaulters.

“It is true that we have not served some people who have not defaulted including the family of Ajuma Jaramogi Oginga Odinga including some families also,” he said.

He says the names have been published simply because this is a requirement of the law, adding that this will also help in bringing clarity as everyone will be able to see and respond to this.

Hongo who spoke in the presence of some of the task force members including its chairman said they will recommend for repossession of such land whose owners would not have complied by paying the land rate arrears.

“If there will be defaulters who will not be able to pay the rate arrears, they we will recommend for repossession of such kinds of land so as to enable such land to be productive because the land is meant for development purposes,” he adds.

Hongo adds that the task force has discovered that some of the land rate defaulters have not been able to pay the rates simply because whenever they want to pay, some new names appear in records hence making it not possible to make such payment.

The task force has revisited various reports right from 1970s including the Prof. 

 Mathew Ogutu Task force report, Ndung’u report on Land, Justice Akiwumi Commission report up to date.

Meanwhile, Kisumu governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o has sent an apology to the family of first vice President Late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga following an advert placing him as amongst the top county land rate defaulters.

A list published in the local dailies last week showed that Jaramogi Oginga and his son Oburu were amongst the top land rate defaulters within the county.

The list states that Ajuma Oginga Odinga, the owner of Kisumu Bloc 12/222, owes the county Sh7, 774,099 while Oginga Sh295,743. Dr Oginga’s land is marked as Kisumu Bloc 7/509.

Governor Anyang Nyong’o today through the Governor Press unit sent there unreserved apology to the family for embarrassment caused by the publication.

The statement stated that the county government in an effort to manage the ballooning land rates account on default, which had serous impacts on revenue management, commissioned an exercise to compile a list of all the land rate defaulters and the actual amount in default in the county.

The Director of the Governor’s Press Unit Aloice Ager says this has been an elaborate process that entailed reconciling the accounts resident in the various payment platform dating back to the defunct local authorities.

“The governor Peter Anyang Nyong’o sends unreserved apology to the family of the first vice president for embarrassment caused by this publication and for this enormous error, “he states.

He says the reconciliation process entailed crosschecking with all relevant information including minutes from sessions by the full councils of those defunct authorities, the decision by the then state department of Local authority and the county cabinet.

He notes that the final document of this exercise unfortunately had not been processed through the county cabinet for final action.

Ager says it is therefore unfortunate that one of the many drafts pieces was erroneously sent for publication on one of the dailies.

 “It’s unfortunate that this version sent to the public is not the final document being sent to the cabinet and has caused untold embarrassment to the government,” he further says.

He further says this was  because some of the names appearing on that list were cleared during the processing period following receipts of relevant documentation and do not appear in the final document.

The names were in a published list of 581 defaulters that is of companies and individuals.

The defaulters according to the advert are required to clear their arrears by December 21 this year.

“The county government of Kisumu hereby gives notice to the general public and land rate defaulters, that for efficient land rate management and verification of ownership records as captured, the defaulters are directed to pay all their dues by December 21,” read the notice.

ENDS: