This archive report was first published on 22 November 2019.
On September 19, 2019, Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony was at the Council of Governors office in Delta House, Westlands, Nairobi, to address concerns raised by the Senate over the county's acquisition of a 10-acre parcel from Unilever Kenya.
The Senate's County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) had raised concerns over the manner in which the county paid Sh102 million for the land, with the Auditor General's report flagging the delay in issuance of the title deed despite the county having settled the full amount.
According to the Auditor General's 2017/18 report, the county government paid Sh102,256,000 through the National Land Commission (NLC) for the land, but failed to produce the title deed for audit verification.
CPAIC chairman Moses Kajwang' (Homa Bay) stated that his team had been analyzing land transactions involving the county government, with evidence of overvalued parcels in some instances.
“This seems to be another case where the county government, through NLC, acquired land without proper documentation,” said Mr Kajwang’.
Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony defended his administration, stating that all legal processes were followed when the land was bought from Unilever.
“Our understanding is that Unilever is a private entity. If the land belonged to the public, we could not have paid for it,” said Prof Chepkwony.
However, senators argued that Sh102 million was an unacceptably high price for the 10-acre parcel, with an acre costing Sh10 million.
