Sonko Extends Rent Waiver on Nairobi County Houses by Six Months

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has extended a rent waiver offered to over 16,000 tenants living in houses owned by the county government for a further six months.

Sonko pointed out that the decision was informed by the financial challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He accused the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) of harassing the tenants over rent arrears without taking into consideration the economic crisis created by the pandemic.

“My attention has been drawn to the outcry of a majority of tenants occupying residential houses belonging to the Nairobi City County Government, following persistent harassment by officers from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) over rent arrears,” Sonko said in a statement.

“…I do hereby extend the waiver earlier granted for a period of a further six (6) months from the date of this letter, as our residents continue to recover economically from the effects the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Sonko’s announcement is likely to trigger a fresh standoff with NMS, which is led by director-general Major General Mohamed Badi.

Sonko recently rejected the County Appropriations Bill after the County Assembly allocated NMS Sh27.1 billion out of a budget of Sh37.5 billion, leaving him with only Sh8.4 billion to control.

Sonko claimed the budget had a huge deficit and demanded the allocations to NMS be voided.

“I have reviewed the bill as presented to me for assent and the total budget for FY 2020-21 Sh31.6 billons against Sh37.4 billion leaving a deficit of Sh5.8 billion which is against the Public Finance Management regulations 31 (c) which provides that the total budgeted revenue and budgeted expenditure must be balanced,” Sonko said.