Homebuyers who invested in Nairobi City County’s Affordable Housing Programme could finally get their houses or recover their money following a 14-day intervention by the County Assembly’s Urban Planning and Housing Committee.
The committee, chaired by Baba Dogo MCA Geoffrey Majiwa, has pledged to mediate a dispute involving buyers, contractors and county government officials over housing projects that have remained incomplete years after residents made payments.
The intervention follows complaints from affected families who say they have endured prolonged delays, received little information about construction progress and remain uncertain about when they will occupy the houses they purchased.
Speaking after meeting homebuyers and contractors, Majiwa said the committee had given the parties 14 days to agree on a clear way forward, including setting timelines for completing the outstanding units.
He said buyers had struggled to obtain reliable updates from county executive officials, while the officials had also blamed contractors for failing to provide clear information on the projects.
“Residents who purchased these units are saying they are not getting clear answers from the county executive officers. The county executive officers are also saying they are not getting clear answers from the contractors,” Majiwa said.
The MCA said the committee would act as a neutral mediator to bring the county government and contractors together and ensure buyers receive what they paid for.
He added that residents who were unwilling to wait for the additional construction period requested by contractors should be given the option of getting their money back.
“If they don’t want to wait for the period the contractors are requesting, we will ask the contractors to refund their money so that they can do other things with their money,” he said.
Majiwa said contractors had cited several challenges behind the delays, including disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of construction materials.
According to the contractors, construction activities were disrupted during the pandemic, while the subsequent increase in building costs made it difficult to complete the projects under the original financial arrangements.
The disagreements have since created a stalemate, leaving buyers demanding delivery of their homes or refunds while contractors seek more time to complete construction.
The committee hopes its intervention will produce an agreement that addresses the concerns of residents while taking into account the challenges facing contractors and the county government.
However, Majiwa declined to comment on allegations that some title deeds associated with the housing projects had been used to secure loans from financial institutions.
He said the claims needed to be verified before the committee could make any conclusions.
On calls for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the matter, Majiwa said the County Assembly would first exercise its oversight mandate.
“Our work is to do oversight. Until we are done with oversight, those other agencies cannot work for us. We have the capacity to do our work and when we think we need them, we are the ones to involve them,” he said.
The committee is expected to present its findings and recommendations within 14 days.
Buyers say they have waited for years
One of the affected buyers, Bishar Abdullai, said his family invested money in the Jibanje Bachelors Housing project in 2020 but had yet to receive the house.
He said several buyers had completed their payments and received allocations, but the houses remained undelivered.
Abdullai accused the contractor of abandoning the construction site, adding that buyers had struggled to get credible information about the project’s progress.
“Seven years down the line, we have paid monies and they have even allocated houses to us. Several members, even the members here, some of them have completed their payments. But there is no housing and there is no value for our money,” he said.
He said families had invested in the project with the expectation of securing decent homes in Nairobi but were now left uncertain about both their money and the promised units.
Efforts by buyers to visit the site and establish how far construction had progressed had also failed to provide satisfactory answers, he added.
Abdullai said the residents eventually petitioned the County Assembly after previous engagements failed to resolve the dispute.
He welcomed the committee’s intervention, saying buyers hoped the 14-day deadline would finally lead to concrete action.
“We want either our monies or housing. There is no third way about it. We need to be recompensed or refunded our monies which we have invested in this project or be allocated the houses,” he said.
He urged contractors and county officials to take responsibility and ensure affected families either receive the houses they paid for or get their money back.
For the buyers, the committee’s intervention has renewed hope after years of waiting. But they say the ultimate measure of success will be whether the promised homes are delivered or their investments returned.