Trouble for Cytonn as furious investors take war to Parliament

Three petitioners want Parliament to investigate Cytonn Investments over a Sh7.8 million a unit housing project, dubbed ‘The Ridge’ on Kiambu Road, which they say has never kicked off, sparking fears that the investors are on the verge of losing their money.

Ms Josephine Awuor, Ms Caroline Atieno and Mr Omondi Abonyo, through Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi, say that investors had paid in excess of Sh3.9 million each but that the company keeps on telling those who invested that they are finalising the project.

The three petitioners have expressed fears that Cytonn Investments has financial problems since there is no progress on construction of the project.

The Public Debt Committee now has 60 days to consider the petition and report back to the House.

The petitioners say that investors made an initial instalment of 10 percent of the sale value plus booking fee of Sh50,000.

After initially expressing alarm over the slow progress of the project, the petitioners told MPs that investors then started demanding refunds but were told they would incur a mandatory 10 percent loss on their deposits.

“In September 2019, when many investors began seeking refunds, the company announced that it would put the money in its substituent platform called Cytonn High Yield Solution for one year to earn interest at 18 percent and then start refunding,” the petitioners say.

The petitioners say that to their dismay, in 2020, the company began blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for interruptions on the project and promised to refund the investors in 2021, during which time they kept sending statements to show interest was being earned.

“Later, an administrator was appointed and the company continued to experience financial difficulty, and to-date nothing has come to fruition with regards to investors’ money, nor has The Ridge project taken off,” the nvestors say.

“Notwithstanding this debacle, the company has ostensibly kept their posts alive on social media platforms on investment analysis to dupe the investors and unsuspecting Kenyans that it is liquid and in optimum operational capacity,” reads the petition.

The petitioners expressed fear that the company has been trying to sell off some of its properties in vain and might thus dissolve with depositors’ money.

The petitioners now want MPs to engage Cytonn and its partners to clarify how they intend to fulfil their agreement with investors of The Ridge project.

They also want the lawmakers to hold CEO Edwin Dande responsible for alleged mismanagement and refund of investors’ money. 

Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo said the committee on Public petitions should look into the matter so that Kenyans' hard-earned money is saved.