Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (pictured) on Wednesday evening filed a petition before the Senate seeking its intervention over a disputed 3,000 acres.
The county and the Kenya Defence Forces both lay claim to the land.
Kidero is the first governor to file a petition in the Senate.
The petition says the City Council of Nairobi bought the Embakasi land from Kayole Estates Limited in 1997 and shortly after, the Department of Defence applied to be allocated 988 acres.
Kidero says the application was considered and approved by the City Council on condition that DoD would pay a stand premium of Sh40 million within 30 days of allotment. “The DoD entered and took possession of the entire property without paying the stand premium,” the petition says.
Kidero says the city council filed a suit demanding to be paid Sh61.5 billion – the commercial value of the land. “Prior to and after filing the suit, there were several rounds of negotiations between the city council and the DoD... These negotiations did not yield any positive outcome,” the petition states.
He says the county government has also been unsuccessful in the negotiations and this had tied up a lot of funds that could be used to develop Nairobi. Kidero urged the Senate to facilitate negotiations and ensure payment of the Sh61.5 billion. He also wants laws enacted to set out procedures on how to resolve disputes between the state and counties.
Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura (Murang’a senator) directed the House’s Legal Affairs and Human Rights committee chaired by Amos Wako (Busia) to resolve the matter. He said it is the Senate’s duty to protect counties.