The Nairobi County government has closed the Grand Lodge of East Africa’s Freemasons’ Hall in the city centre over land rate arrears amounting to Ksh.19 million.
The move is a part of a wider county campaign targeting rate defaulters across the capital.
Health CEC Suzanne Silantoi led the operation, stating that the premises owes Nairobi County over Ksh.19 million land rate arrears.
“We will not only be clamping properties belonging to defaulters, but we are also moving to disconnect services such as water and sewer lines where necessary”, she said.
“Before any clamping is done, we issue demand notices and publish the same in local dailies, instructing landowners to settle outstanding rates. Failure to comply gives us the legal mandate to clamp”, she added.
According to the County records, out of approximately 256,000 parcels of land registered in Nairobi, only 50,000 are currently up to date with their land rates representing a compliance rate of just 20 per cent.
The city county stands to recover up to Ksh.10 billion in unpaid land rates.
