{"id":115048,"date":"2025-05-14T14:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T14:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/14\/city-hall-clamps-freemasons-hall-over-sh19mn-land-rate-arrears\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T14:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T14:03:51","slug":"city-hall-clamps-freemasons-hall-over-sh19mn-land-rate-arrears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/city-hall-clamps-freemasons-hall-over-sh19mn-land-rate-arrears\/","title":{"rendered":"City Hall clamps Freemasons\u2019 Hall over Sh19mn land rate arrears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 \u2013 The Nairobi County Revenue Department on Tuesday clamped the Grand Lodge of East Africa\u2019s Freemasons\u2019 Hall in the city center over a land rate default amounting to Sh19 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The enforcement operation, led by Revenue Team Leader Suzanne Silantoi and Chief Officer for Revenue Lydia Mathia, is part of a wider county campaign targeting rate defaulters across the capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis particular premises owes Nairobi County over Sh19 million in land rates arrears,\u201d said Silantoi during the operation. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to county officials, the Freemasons\u2019 Hall was clamped following due process, including the issuance of demand notices and public warnings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore any clamping is done, we issue demand notices and publish the same in local dailies instructing landowners to settle outstanding rates,\u201d Silantoi explained. \u201cFailure to comply gives us the legal mandate to clamp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chief Officer Lydia Mathia noted that while the enforcement may inconvenience tenants, the law permits the county to disconnect services for non-compliant property owners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDisconnection of such services is within the law,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t pay land rates, how do you expect to benefit from county services? It is unfortunate that tenants may suffer due to their landlords\u2019 negligence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>County records paint a grim picture: of the approximately 256,000 registered land parcels in Nairobi, only 50,000 are currently up to date with their land rates\u2014representing a compliance rate of just 20 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The county government has long struggled with financial strain brought on by a ballooning wage bill, stalled infrastructure projects, and service delivery gaps. Officials say improved land rate compliance is crucial to reversing the county\u2019s worsening fiscal health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are determined to recover what is owed to the county,\u201d said Silantoi. \u201cThis is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 \u2013 The Nairobi County Revenue Department on Tuesday clamped the Grand Lodge of East Africa\u2019s Freemasons\u2019 Hall in the city center over a land rate default amounting to Sh19 million. The enforcement operation, led by Revenue Team Leader Suzanne Silantoi and Chief Officer for Revenue Lydia Mathia, is part of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}