It has emerged that an outsider was illegally sitting on the important Urban Planning Technical Committee of the Nairobi County Government.
Against this backdrop, on Wednesday, the county assembly planning committee dissolved the technical committee, citing residents' protests and illegal approvals in the city.
The 12-member Nairobi City and County Urban Planning Technical Committee (UPTC) was announced in 2022 by Governor Johnson Sakaja.
The mandate of the UPTC was to facilitate the assessment and consideration of development permit applications submitted to planning authorities.
A technical committee comprised of experts was under Acting Deputy Director-General for Planning Fred Ochanda, who was summoned for questioning by the EACC on May 3, 2024.
However, during intense deliberations by the parliamentary planning committee chaired by Albin Hollande on May 8, it emerged that two other members of the executive were allowed to attend the technical committee. .
The two people mentioned at the roundtable meeting were Chief of Staff David Njoroge and Osman Caliph, who is said to be close to Governor Sakaja.
County Executive Commissioner for Lands Stephen Mwangi told MCA that the two had received the governor’s blessing to serve on the technical committee.
“Legally speaking, they cannot be on that committee, but when it comes to the current situation, they are benefiting from the governor’s office,” Mwangi told the committee.
This was after planning committee chairman Hollande asked why two outsiders were allowed to sit on an important technical committee.
Baba Dogo MCA Geoffrey Maziwa sought to find out why some of the approvals were made out of Riverside, a private office connected to the executive away from City Hall.
In response, the Land CEC said, “We believe that the governor has legal advisors to advise him on legal issues, so he will know that whatever he does is within the law.'' ” he said.
He told the committee that a meeting was held at the Riverside office in March 2024 and 154 approvals were discussed, of which 131 were approved.
Recently elected UDA MPs and ward councilors have expressed concerns about unplanned construction in the city.
They named the high-rise building and claimed that some people at City Hall were either putting cash in their pockets or being offered apartments or commercial space in the building in return.
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This was after Governor Sakaja's statement that high-rise buildings would be built in areas such as Kileleshwa, Lavington and Eastleigh among others was challenged.
“25 floors is area-specific (around the air base) and is not a blanket limit. We have proposed an area-specific zoning framework of up to 75 floors in some areas.” the governor said.
