Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has raised serious concerns about NSSF idle properties in Nairobi’s central business district, valued at Sh4.022 billion. She warns that prolonged neglect by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) management leaves these assets vulnerable to land grabbing.
Her audit report for the year ending June 30, 2025, reveals that at least five prime CBD properties remain vacant. This directly violates Section 1.5.2 of the NSSF’s 2020 Investment Policy Statement, which requires the fund to structure and invest all assets prudently at all times. These idle holdings account for 11.3% of the fund’s total Sh35.4 billion property portfolio.
Gathungu also states that investigators could not confirm who truly benefits from these properties. She holds NSSF leadership accountable for mishandling contributors’ pension savings.
The problem stems from deep-rooted legacy issues. At the fund’s annual general meeting, CEO Charles Koros admitted that past officials bought land with titles that are now “worthless papers.” Fraudsters sold them public land—such as forest reserves, road corridors, and government-owned parcels—as if it were private property.
“For example, we have two plots on Ngong Road and others along Jogoo Road that sit on road reserves,” Koros said. “Some are even on forest land. These titles hold no real value.”
One notable case involves a Sh115 million plot in Upper Hill. NSSF purchased it from a private developer, but the government later revoked the title deed through Kenya Gazette Notice No. 3460 in 2010. Officials declared the land had always been reserved for public use under the Constitution and relevant land laws. NSSF continues to challenge this decision in court—but so far, judges have ruled against the fund.
In another instance, the fund bought land in Eldoret that legally belongs to the Kenya Prisons Service. Koros confirmed that NSSF now plans to compensate the government for this error. “Court rulings are another pain point,” he acknowledged. “They keep going against us because we never exercised prudent investment judgment back then.”
These failures expose systemic weaknesses in NSSF’s real estate strategy. Instead of generating returns for pensioners, billions in assets sit unused—or worse, trapped in legal battles. Without urgent reform, the NSSF idle properties crisis could escalate, putting contributors’ savings at greater risk of loss and potential land grabbing.
READ: Uganda Airlines Taps Ethiopian Aviation Veteran Girma Wake for Turnaround
