By Correspondent
When Mahiga Homes rolled out its off plan projects in 2018 its model drew plenty of interest, particularly on social media, where the company launched facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, which attracted a huge following.
There are plenty of reasons why they have a high number of depositors, members both online and offline. A biting housing shortage around the country, exacerbated by high urbanisation rates, has placed homes as highly prized possessions.
Last year Mahiga Homes directors who sell their off plan houses at design stage travelled around the world to market their housing model to Kenyans who live in Diaspora.
Majority of Kenyans who live outside the country dream of owning homes in their motherland and most of them invested in Mahiga Homes Ltd. An attractive payment plan by Mahiga Homes also gave them time to work for their money as the construction goes on.
However, things didn’t go well as thousands of home owners are yet to have keys for their houses more than 24 months later. 
Our investigation has shown that just like the famous Simple homes where Kenyans have lost more than Sh500m, Mahiga homes have been taking deposits from Kenyans who live abroad with projections that money will keep trickling in as they develop homes.
“I have paid more than Ksh3.5m in monthly installments and I was told my house will be ready by November last year, no updates have been given to me upto now. We are going to sue them soon because this is fraud and I am not the only one who is complaining,” says Magdalene Kairu who works in the United States of America. 
Our investigations has also revealed that part of the reason why Mahiga Homes handover delayed is the fact that the company mostly relied on the money from it’s clients to develop it’s houses.
This has resulted to slowdown in construction bringing most of Mahiga Homes projects to a halt and affecting even those home owners like a 55 year Lucy Muthoni who works in Southampton City in the U.K and who made her payment in full.
“I think Kenyan law protect these people. It’s evidence that they are bribing their way to freedom after stealing from others. In my case I paid Sh4.5m in full, it’s now 17 months, they have refused to refund my money,” she said.
Those who home owners who live in Kenya said they were duped and are currently gnashing their teeth and going through hectic law processes to recover their stolen investments.
Calls to Mahiga Homes in efforts to see the projects as potential buyers were not successful. The firm said that all they could offer are photos and that all their completed houses are fully occupied.
A detailed check around the residence of Cornerstones and Kimunyu along Kenyatta Road however, shows that the sewerage line is yet to be completed with some houses with flushing units not working posing health hazards to the families.
The residents, who are on their own, after sinking millions into the project, are now using a make-shift bio-digester.
Mahiga homes has been the subject of discussion on social media with home buyers complaining of poorly done house units in Nairobi and Kajiado.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is already skimming through Mahiga Homes bank records, tax returns and other transaction details.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
