or Urithi redeems a Star project.
By Jame Wakahiuhiu
Urithi Housing Cooperative founder and Chairman Samuel Maina,
photo Urithirithi chairman
Urithi Housing Society is battling negative publicity
that befell the organization beginning 2019 when financial problems set in and
creditors, including banks, started hovering over its estimated Sh6 billion
worth of assets.
The Society which was once a formidable force in the
real estate sector started facing financial woes in April 2019 that culminated
into a meeting with the investors, where many members complained that they had
not received their title deeds, some for more than five years. Others decried
the slow pace of construction, accusing management of pulling out of some of
the construction sites.
About the same time, confusion reigned at Gakuo Real
Estate Company, a land buying company, also based in Thika town. Gakuyo woes
emanated from a publicized report on how the firm’s directors had allegedly
siphoned more than Sh1 billion belonging to 78,000 members, many of them
peasants.
An audit report, carried out by the then Commissioner
of Cooperatives Mary Mungai following complaints from members, detailed what
transpired. The panic caused jitters among investors in land buying and housing
companies across Central Kenya.
Urithi was among the worst hit, with investors
withholding monthly contributions and members of the Sacco demanding refunds in
billions of shillings. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 worsened the
situation, with a series of lockdowns and curfews strangling all economic
activities and bringing the Kenyan economy to a halt.
As the construction sector came to a standstill last
year, the High Court authorized Family Bank to auction 104 acres piece of land
owned by the Sacco to recover Sh315.1 million owed by the housing cooperative.
All this could now be water under the bridge.
According to Urithi Housing Cooperative founder and Chairman Samuel Maina, the
court cases have been settled out of court and the Sacco is now back in most of
its construction sites. “We have been in discussions with Family Bank – to sort
the dispute with the members over the Panorama Gardens project,” Maina said
last weekend.
Since inception in 2012, Urithi has undertaken nearly
200 projects, of which 120 have been completed and settled with investors.
Another 38 projects have been finalized in the last one-and-a-half years, while
the balance consists of ongoing projects.
Maina says Family Bank has now given Urithi Housing a
partial discharge on the Panorama project which has more than 500 plots. “We
hope titles will be out in five to six months. This is a big and important step
for us as members will get back their plots whose titles had been withheld by
the bank,” Maina told about 200 investors in the project during a meeting held
on site on 14th May 2022.
He said the Sacco has adopted the Member Operated
Model to deal with the project’s investors, the Sacco management and Family
Bank. The bank has now granted the project a partial discharge.
“Panorama was one of the projects giving us problems,
but we have reached an agreement between the members, the bank and my office.
Panorama plots will now go back to the members, a major breakthrough in the
revival journey of Urithi …those who have finalised their payments will get
their plots back,” he told the investors.
“We are back.
We will ensure that all those who have invested in Urithi reap their benefits.
Discussions are ongoing with projects such as Osteen Terrace Gardens (OTG),
Birmingham and Ruby Gardens among others,” Maina said.
“The court cases and injunctions have been withdrawn.
Other members of various projects will soon be called into separate meetings to
get an update and adopt the same model on their projects,” he said.
Thanking the bank and investors in the project, Maina
said the Sacco will soon reach out to all the investors of other projects. “We
are back to many of our construction sites and handed over to members the
Utange houses in Mombasa, Juja plains and Gem projects and Rongai Gardens.
Those whose projects
have not resumed, we are calling for patience. There is the will, support
and assurance from my office; I am confident that those who invested in Urithi
will get the benefits from the projects that they invested in,” he said.
