Dan Okwiri
Penning my journal.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. This post is wordy, and I have penned this with youth in mind. We all have different risk appetite, there’s an inverse relationship between price and risk, which goes the more the risk, the less the price. Who wants to dive into risky waters? Risks comes with bounty, and higher returns.
Nairobi in the 80s did sea in opportunities. Most of the land did not have titles. Right from Embakasi, Donholm, Tena, uppity Garden Estate that borders both Kiambu and Thika roads, of all places Jamuhuri Estate on Ngong road to name but a few.
To give you an inkling of what I am leading to you, a plot in present day Jamhuri in the 90s was Kes 250k. It was marshy and they were hardly any takers. Did people have money to buy? My answer is yes? Did they buy? No! Why? It’s simple, nobody trusted the validity of the City Council allotment letters.
There is a bloke stemming from Mount Kenya who did and acquired 30+ plots. The value of a plot in Jamuhuri today fetching Kes 30 to Kes 35 million. He is worth Kes one billion in land value; it’s actually much more, because he developed it. He is probably worth with Kes 2 billion if you include the buildings.
There was a buddy of mine, a straight civil servant known as Njenga, so let’s be crystal clear, he wasn’t swimming in money. Njenga was ambitious, so he had a fairly high risk appetite. It was 1989, a land buying company was offloading half-acre plots for Kes 75 along Thika Rd, it what would become the uppity Garden Estate. Did people know about it? Pretty much yes? Did they bother? Nope!
Garden Estate was in the outskirt boonies of Nairobi where in them times antelopes grazed. Who would want to live there? The titles for ownership were an allotment letter, many felt that the title papers were dodgy, they didn’t want to dive in.
Let me give you a feel of the value of money on what 75k could do in 1989? Kes. 260k could buy you a new Toyota pick-up ex-Japan, Kes 200k could buy you a Nissan Double Cab. So if you benchmark it with the value of a Toyota pick up today which costs Kes 6 million, it’s like the land was being sold at Kes 1,6 million only in today’s money. I have divided by 4 to benchmark it to money value in 1989.
If you don’t click that, don’t blame Wuod Baba, you probably have an issue with your IQ! Are the opportunities today to get strategic land for Kes 1.6 million in the fringes of Nairobi today for a steal? I would say yes, but it’s getting fewer! And I ain’t smoking something!
Let me lead you to it in freebie. To get to know where to invest, you must observe the government’s plans. You can shout out to the moon in defiance, but you gotta know it’s the hand that rocks the cradle. Everyone in this country with real money does business with the government.
Take it to the bank, work your butt off for the next 100 years, you won’t live in Karen on a salary. You got to in business. Be in the know that the government holds 50%+ of our resources. So ask yourself what are their plans for infrastructure?
Let me give you my 2 cents for those young & time on your side, the milkshake here is am doing this for free, for my walk ahead short. If you care to travel you might have noticed that there’s a new desolate road snaking from Ngong town to Mai Mahiu. It perches on vast scenic space on the escarpment. What do you look for in land? It’s location, location, location. I can’t say that again.
In terms of location, it’s near Nairobi, & for now the land is cheap for your reap. Am sure it’s definitely below 400k per acre & lower. If I were in my 20s up to early 40s, I would rush and get a stake of the steak. The new road has plates opportunity for investment. It’s yours for the take, like Njenga did in 1989. Now do not delude yourself that life will get cheaper, it won’t . Many youth can buy an apple phone of 180k yet complain that life is expensive.
Now my next question is what other thing is the government doing that should interest you. Mohamed Hersi, an accomplished hotelier in the coast, recently made a post that caught my attention, he said affordable housing is the greatest thing since sliced bread, & the government is doing a great job. The commentaries on his post was flooded with sarcasm & ridicule. I thought for a minute & realized that Mohamed is a genius. No country in Africa is doing affordable housing in the scale Kenya is doing, and it’s all over the country.
Now here’s the icing on the cake, the cost of an affordable house in Nairobi is exactly the same as one in Homa Bay, doesn’t matter the town it’s the same. That alone if you’re an economist should tell you something. I leave it to you. Next the barriers of entry to obtain an affordable house is low, a 6 month Mpesa statement. Why are folksy frowning on it, in my opinion it’s peer pressure.
Now I was in Homa Bay with a buddy of mine 3 months ago when I saw some flats that sits close to the Lake Victoria shore, you can see the lake in full view from your window. Curious, I drove in to have a look. The apartments were 2 bedrooms, a bit tight fit and going for Kes 3mill with a monthly repayment of 22k. The location was a dream, you could get better in this leafy uppity part of town, infact near the new statehouse.
Affordable housing windows someone from Migori to but an apartment in Nairobi or Nyeri, and retire there. Why not! Government doesn’t own slums, if you research carefully, almost all affordable housing is in prime locations.
My buddy was awed, he pays rent of 15k in the fringes. This was a steal, the 7k he could bear, the location meant he would save commute cost. The difference here is that with every payment he was buying equity. With time because of location the value would rise. My buddy immediately placed a bid, it was the 3rd last house left in the complex, and a great deal in my view.
The last affordable housing project we had was during Jomo Kenyatta era, estate eg Kibera were built under National Housing Corporation. It was headed by a Luo called Samuel Ayany a burly 6:2 ft bloke with hard knuckles with an uncanny resemblance to Idi Amin. He was a sharp dude, & smoked a pipe, had a Masters degree from one of the prestigious UK universities, I believe from Scotland to my recall, & no nonsense. Few blokes of them days that well read.
Almost anyone from Western Kenya who owned property in the 70s & 80s did so through Samuel Ayany, I reckon him to be the greatest person who uplifted peoples lives economically of western Kenya!
Ayany was the brain child of affordable housing in Kenya, if you’re familiar with “Ayany Estate” you’re now in know who mooted it. Doing a good job can be tricky in Kenya. With his performance, his detractors started coveting his job. There was morbid hate for anyone Luo in Jomo Kenyatta era. A Kiambu mafia from “Mundu wa nyumba” went to Jomo Kenyatta and told him in no love lost, “how can we have a Jaluo heading NHC of all the people on planet earth? These government is ours, Mzee can’t you give me the job?”
Mzee Kenyatta signed his pre drafted appointment letter and gave him the job as NHC new CEO. The next Monday morning as Ayany landed in his Volvo 244 he was told by the guard that he was no longer CEO, & someone from mountain had taken his place.
Ayany stomped pace upstairs in infuriated face, who is this miscreant? He swung open the doors & found him swiveling in his chair with legs on the mahogany table, sipping tea. Ayany whacked him with his stick in buffet, as he sent crushing to floor. The fellow was screaming trying to flee for his life. Ayany rained him his stick in criss criss as he pinned him to cushy carpet, leaving him semi-unconscious. The man in horse neigh was rescued by the watch man and secretarial staff. Ayany continued with his duties like nothing happened. If you meet any Luo you might want to ask him what the word “Ayany” means?
The beleaguered man went back to State House in bandages, to complain to Jomo Kenyatta that Ayany refused to vacate office. Jomo’s reply was terse, you wanted the Jaluo out. I gave you an appointment letter, but you failed to take the seat. You’re an embarrassment, & unfit to be a leader. Let Ayany continue, he delivers! I forget to tell you he is ruthlessly efficient. My brother continue managing shamba yako, hii kazi kujenga ma nyumba hujui. The state house coterie kitchen cabinet were roaring in laughter. “Ayany kweli ni mwanaume.!”
When Ayany retired, the affordable house program slowed down, till President Ruto mooted it. No country can achieve 100% housing for its citizens, even NYC you’ll see many homeless. My young brothers & sisters, affordable housing is the opportunity for now, the next president will come with a different agenda. It has taken decades before Kenyan government built affordable houses. If you have the opportunity, my advice, take it. Many of the 60 genre in my Luo community refused buy property & opted to reside in city council housing, today being evicted.
Recently a prominent media personality passed on he had been big gun holding top corporate jobs. For some reason he refused to buy a house of his own. He lived in city council housing in Woodley. Few months ago the county government gave the occupants notice & demolished the house for an affordable housing project. The bloke relocated back home to rift valley and within months was found dead in his rural home. Relocating to village in your late 70s is torture.
Most of current young haven’t lived in the village, it is daunting if you don’t have the amenities. Go for affordable housing, you wont regret, One day you’ll remember Wuod Baba’s advice. Please for now don’t boat me into the politics of it, I ain’t boarding. What we all need is a roof over our heads.
If you’re young forget the sarcasm of the oldies & gun for it. Have been blessed to travel than few can count in years, and will freely tell you, getting a 3-bedroom house in the middle of a capital city in Africa for Kes 3 million is a mirage. In Lagos we are talking at least Kes 12 to 15 million in the far flung outskirt fringes of town.
Owning a house in a capital city or commercial center is a milestone, for now affordable housing is an opportunity to do just that.
#Okwiri my journal, my thoughts, my walk…
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