Somali community in Kenya resist property audit by government
Nairobi city: real estate value has skyrocketed in the recent past due to a frenzy buying of properties by foreigners
By Hudson Gumbihi
A plan by government to conduct an audit on property owned by foreigners has attracted criticism especially from members of the Somali community. Last week, Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia ordered provincial administrators to carry out the property census with Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, being the point of focus.
The decree came amidst growing local concern that money laundering by foreigners had led to inflation of land and house prices in the city. The audit is expected to target the Somali community – a majority who fled their lawless homeland investing heavily in Kenya.
Linking money to piracy and terrorism
Local intelligence reports have in the past indicated that piracy money along the coast of Somalia is re-routed to Kenya with beneficiaries investing in real estate, transport and Shylock at the expense of locals who can not march the financial muscle of the foreigners. Unfortunately, investigators have been unable to link the money to piracy and terrorism.
Consequently, the schism between the poor and rich has widened prompting the State to swing into action by seeking to control and monitor property ownership. Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu is working on a framework of implementation of the audit, which is raising murmurs of discontent among Somalis.
Former Law Society of Kenya chairman Ahmednasir Abdullahi describes the directive as draconian and ethnically motivated, and pleads with President Mwai Kibaki to intervene stopping the exercise he feels can ignite a bloody backlash.
Uncouth business practise
The Attorney General says Kimemia has no lawful authority to profile property owners. “Property owners in Eastleigh or anywhere should know that there is no legal duty upon them to co-operate, show copies of their title, or even explain the source of money with which they bought a given property,” he notes.
A labourer works at a construction site of an upscale apartment in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Nairobi
The PS said the country lacked proper laws on property ownership. Locals have been complaining of a sudden scramble for land and other property in major urban centres by members of the Somali community they accused of engaging in uncouth business practices.
Dirty money
Another theory is that rich Arab nations are shifting their investment priorities to African countries where they are pumping millions of dollars – a development that recently alarmed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who warned during a conference in France that there is need to guard against what he termed “new colonialism”.
“There is serious concern that dirty money is being used to acquire property. And this has to stop,” Kimemia told a press conference. Somalia has been without a functional government since 1991. The leadership vacuum has left warlords amass wealth through unscrupulous means. However much of the ill-gotten wealth is re-invested elsewhere with Kenya being a preferred location.
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