Court awards widow Sh17m for house illegally sold by City Hall
Justice Joseph Sergon who on May 12, 2021 ordered the Nairobi County government to pay Phanice Ondeche Asitiba Sh17 million for illegally auctioning her house.
A court has ordered the Nairobi City County government to pay a widow over Sh17 million for irregularly auctioning her house over alleged rent arrears 18 years ago.
Justice Joseph Sergon Wednesday ordered the county government to pay Phanice Ondeche Asitiba, 87, the money by May 31, 2021, failure to which four senior officials will be arrested and sent to jail.
Justice Sergon directed Mr Musumba (acting county secretary), Ms Lydia Kwamboka (county attorney), Mr Allan Esabwa Igambi (Finance CEC) and Mr Halake Wako (Finance Officer) to compensate Mrs Asitiba for the illegal sale of her three-bedroomed house in Kariobangi South.
The house was sold in 1993 for Sh250,000over alleged rent arrears of Sh15,338.30.
No rent arrears
Through lawyer Wangira Okoba, Mrs Asitiba proved she had no rent arrears and that the “sale by the then Nairobi City Council (NCC) was illegal and a flagrant infringement of her rights”.
The house in dispute had been allocated by the NCC to the late Asitiba Atenya Ayau, who was a quarry worker.
The widow told Justice Sergon that since her husband’s death in 2002, she and her three children kept on paying rent to NCC without failing.
In a judgement entered against the NCC in 2017, Justice Sergon established that the sale of the widow’s house was irregular and unlawful. He then ordered the county government to compensate her at the current market rate of Sh12 million.
The judge also directed the decretal amount to attract a 12 per cent interest per annum until the money is paid in full.
Attracted interest
By March 2021, the amount had attracted an interest of Sh4,920,000 from October 2017.
Mr Okaba urged Justice Sergon to commit the four senior city officials to civil jail for failing to implement the court order to compensate the widow.
“Unless this court takes a firm stand to stamp its authority, these officials of the NCC have become elusive and have totally refused to pay the widow yet they sold her house irregularly in 1993,” Mr Okaba told the judge.
While Mr Okaba urged the judge to jail the four, the officials sought time to resolve the matter saying discussions to pay the widow have gained momentum.
“It is five years down the line yet the officials of NCC have been tossing the widow here and there,” the lawyer said.
Justice Sergon gave the county officials until May 31, 2021 to pay the widow or they be jailed.
