Suspended city urban planning officer sneaks back to office – Weekly Citizen

Tension is high at Nairobi county planning and compliance office following the unexpected return of chief officer Justus Kathenge who was suspended by Governor Mike Sonko over a range of corruption issues including violation of physical Act and zoning regulations.

Inside sources reported that the suspended urban planning county chief officer now banks on a court curfew against Governor Sonko to make technical appearances at his office while informing his juniors that he would soon be back in full swing to wrestle back his lucrative docket.

By the time of his suspension Kathenge had reportedly presided over mega corruption deals where he minted millions of shillings and some of such graft cases as cited by the governor’s office include several buildings in Karen, Kileleshwa and Lavington.

The buildings in question were brought up without adherence to zoning regulations and have more floors than the number recommended for the area.

Sonko

Important to note is the fact that Kathenge is one of the five suspects linked to a shocking case in which a building collapsed in Huruma estate in 2016 killing over 50 people.

Kathenge who was the then director of planning and compliance under former governor Evans Kidero was released on a Sh1 million bond alongside Samuel Karanja, Henry Karanja, the then National Construction Aauthority director Chrispas Ndinyo and the then Mathare subcounty administrator Seline Ogallo.

Questions are being raised how he maneuvered to be appointed a full-fledged chief officer under Governor Sonko administration despite his tainted past even as multiple inside sources maintained that the crooked officer bribed his way to the top position.

Ironically Kathenge was actively in the office of urban planning when Precious Talent School in Dagoretti collapsed killing eight pupils.

This further compounded Kathenge’s trouble and also saw the suspension of other two CECs, Charles Kerich (finance) and Mohammed Dagane (health), while others were Jusper Ndeke (director planning compliance and enforcement), Dominic Mutegi (development management director) and Ochanda Ondari (assistant director enforcement ) among others.

Those familiar with City Hall operations told Weekly Citizen that Kathenge boasts to be filthy rich and enjoys powerful connections but is equally hated by many within the work station given his style of operation, ever plotting to bring down his colleagues through unending antagonism.

His name is synonymous with many scandals and had become notorious in cutting deals with architects to facilitate construction of illegal buildings.

During such dirty deals, the troubled officer would conspire with architects involved to reduce the measurements in terms of figures for the proposed structure while the actual structure remains the same.