Senior Kisumu officials lived rent free in county houses, Assembly report reveals

Senior officials in Kisumu County, including members of the County Executive Committee have been living in county owned houses without paying rent, according to a report by an ad hoc committee of the County Assembly.

The report says a significant number of senior county employees have failed to meet tenancy obligations despite repeated demands from authorities.

“The report explicitly states that a significant number of County Government employees in higher ranks, including County Executive Committee Members, have been unwilling to pay rent,” the committee said.

It added that many officials either ignored communication or failed to respond to official correspondence, making it difficult for the county government to enforce rent payments.

The findings also reveal that efforts to recover rent arrears have been hampered by administrative shortcomings.

Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o had previously directed Finance CEC George Omondi Okong’o to introduce a payroll check off system to deduct rent directly from employees’ salaries. 

However, the committee found that the system was never implemented.

According to the report, some tenants whose rent was supposed to be deducted through payroll continued to accumulate arrears, pointing to discrepancies between payroll deductions and rent account records.

The committee also raised concerns over county housing assets that appear to have been transferred into private ownership.In the affluent Milimani Estate, the county government once owned 78 houses. 

The report states that only 17 remain under county ownership, while 61 properties now have title deeds registered in individual names.

Some of the houses are reportedly owned by senior government officials, politicians, businesspeople and relatives of both county and national government officers.

The report further highlights a sharp decline in rental income collected by the county.

Revenue from county houses fell from Sh20.4 million in the 2023/24 financial year to Sh6.18 million in 2024/25 a drop of nearly 70%.

The committee linked the decline to the engagement of Charcon Properties Limited, which was contracted to manage rent collection on behalf of the Kisumu City Board.

“The FY 2024/25 rent collection represents the lowest recorded rent collection in the five-year period under review,” the report states.

It describes the reduction of Sh14.3 million from the previous year as the steepest single-year decline in any county own-source revenue stream during the review period.

Insiders who are familiar with the matter revealed that the property management firm provided the committee with records showing inconsistencies in ownership and occupancy.

Some properties listed as rental units reportedly had title deeds in private hands, while others had no structures or were under the control of different institutions.

The committee also questioned the county’s broader revenue management framework.

It found that revenue performance had consistently fallen short of targets over the past three years despite increased projections and the delegation of collection responsibilities to the City Board.

Monitoring of revenue collection was found to be largely report-based rather than conducted through real-time systems. The committee said the county continues to operate a billing-focused platform instead of a fully integrated revenue management system.

The report notes that the county is in the process of procuring a new revenue collection system, although members questioned whether it would significantly differ from the one currently in use.

Documents reviewed by the committee show that several residential estates, institutional facilities and commercial properties were placed under the management of Charcon Properties Limited. 

These included housing blocks in various county estates, Kibuye Estate, slaughterhouses and facilities such as Ober Kamoth Health Centre, Got Nyabondo Health Centre, Mama Ngina Children’s Home and the Old Fire Station.

The report also cites delays in lease renewals because updated rental rates under the new County Finance Act have not been provided.

Maintenance challenges were found across several county properties, including leaking roofs, faulty plumbing and deteriorating structures.

At Ober Kamoth Health Centre, some housing units were described as uninhabitable because of leaking roofs and lack of water, conditions that the report says make rent enforcement difficult.

Despite these challenges, occupancy levels remain high across most estates.

However, a number of units generate no rental income because they are occupied by county departments, security personnel and institutional users.

Among the non-revenue-generating properties identified were houses occupied by Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO), residences used by the governor’s security team and offices allocated to the county’s First Lady.

The committee also found that several units previously listed as county houses had been determined to belong to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and had since been demolished to make way for modern housing developments.

A physical verification exercise is ongoing to establish the status, ownership and occupancy of county properties.