Two former MPs are on the verge of losing properties valued at millions of shillings with auctioneers’ hammers scheduled to fall on the prime properties in January over undisclosed debt.
Former Taveta MP Naomi Shaban is set to lose two prime properties in Nairobi and Machakos, while the property of former Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo based in Karen, Nairobi has also been targeted.
Two auctioneers, Garam Investments and Norern Auctioneers, on Monday advertised the auction of the three properties in the newspapers, with the exercises expected to take place on January 21 and 23 next year respectively for the Dr Shaban and Mr Kilonzo assets.
Dr Shaban’s targeted properties are located near Daystar University in Lukenya and in Kilimani, Nairobi.
The first property is a residential block of flats. The auctioneers estimate the property to have a monthly rental income of Sh400,000.
“The subject property is located right opposite Daystar University and approximately 250 metres due north of Lukenya Girls High School and easily identified on the ground as Alliance Apartments Athi River. The plot measures 0.3669 hectares (0.907 acres) approximately. The subject property is developed with two four-storey residential block of flats and a gate house,” Garam Investments said in the notice.
The blocks house three-bedroomed houses (master ensuite), with a total built up area of 34,950 square feet.
“The parcel has plenty of undeveloped sections which can be used for putting up more apartment blocks or sub-divided into sub plots. Garam Auctioneers also advertised an apartment owned by Dr Shaban’ within Brightwoods Apartments, a prime residential property located in Yaya Centre area, Kilimani.
The apartment is a four-bedroomed (master ensuite) unit with a lettable area measuring 1,506 square feet.
“The property is easily identified as apartment D8 situated on the third floor of Brightwoods Apartments, along Chania Avenue, Kilimani Area, Nairobi Ciity. It is situated 400 metres to the south of Yaya Centre and approximately 4kms from Nairobi Central Business District,” Garam Auctioneers stated.
The auctioneer has scheduled auctioning of the property on January 21, 2025 at its offices in Westlands, Nairobi.
Mr Kilonzo’s property constitutes a five-bedroom townhouse in a 0.5 acres parcel of land in Northwood, Karen. Norern Auctioneers said sale of the property would be subject to a reserve price and that interested buyers have to make a Sh1 million refundable deposit.
“Under instructions received from our principals...in the exercise of their statutory power to sale, we shall sell by public auction the undermentioned property together with all improvements erected thereon on January 23, 2025,” Norern Auctioneers stated.
“The declared purchaser(s) must deposit 25 percent of the purchase price by Banker’s Cheque by close of the business of auction day. The balance will therefore be payable to the chargees within 90 days,” the auctioneer added.
The rate of auctioning of properties in the country has gone up as more Kenyans default on loans, amid job losses and poor demand for businesses, even as the Central Bank raised lending rates to control inflation since last year.
In August, non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector hit Sh674.9 billion, up from Sh621.3 billion when the year started.
The NPLs accounted for 16.7 percent of the banking sector loan book in August, the highest rate in 18 years and followed a series of rising of the CBK benchmark rate to a 12-year high of 13 percent by February 2024, but the Central Bank has since been acting to ease the lending rates.
Details of the financial troubles that pushed the two former MPs to the auctioneers are not yet clear, but it was clear from the Norern Auctioneers notice that Mr Kilonzo took a loan against his property and was unable to service.
While the value of the properties has also not been made public, their location at prime settings means they are likely to fetch hundreds of millions of shillings.
