I totally agree that laundered money has contributed a great deal to the superfluous property prices in Nairobi and the ripple effects being felt in its suburbs. Why else would a piece to plot that sold for 200k two years ago, go for 2M today. However, those waiting for the bubble to bust will only find themselves priced out of prime Nairobi. The prices are not coming down because the bulk of the transactions are done on cash basis even the legit ones. I’d rather grow sukuma wiki on my 2M piece of kaplot than sell it to you for less than the dang thing cost me, bubble or no bubble.

Some of us here think that money laundering is only related to piracy. It is broader than piracy. Also, most of this deals passes through the banks. Most banks now have branches in Eastleigh while 10 or so years ago only KCB was operating there. A good case is Equity bank which is having good business funding those storey buidings coming up in the place. As much as there is money laundering in Kenya banks are not assessing the sources of income for their clients. It is not correct to blame piracy for the boom in Kenya's property prices. Prices are up all over Kenya - Nyeri, Embu, Nakuru, Gsa, Kisumu. BTW I thought the AML laws have been enacted in Kenya, is it helping?

Zakumi's thrust merely highlights that Kenya is a major money-laundering point for funds obtained from piracy, drug and human trafficking, gun-running, organzied prostitution with pimps and other forms of racketeering. Then he used a community that has lately become everybody's punching bag and a metaphor for Indian Ocean piracy- the Somalis. He should not have used the Somalis per se because they are not the only ones who do it - anyone guided by the abnormal profit motive and sheer greed would do it notwithstanding the inherent risks therein.

Granted, real estate transactions are a great way for laundering cash and some Somalis and others have actually done this in Nbi and beyond but there are equally many more avenues of money laundering where u will NOT find a warlaloh. Take Casinos for instance, they are a major conduit for laundering casinos. Its simple, a jamaa simply buys chips with cash and may or may not gamble with these chips and will later trade thses chips for a cheque which maybe in a 3rd party's name - and there, the money is now clean! But how many Somalis do u find gambling in Nbi/ Msa? Kwanza, wa wa wa now the number of Casinos has grown exponentially in Nbi & Msa in last few years and we have one in almost any major street, and believe me they are they are a very fertile place for washing dirty money.

Even purchase of high-end cars, gold & jewelry are good avenues too for laundering cash, as indeed are insurance policies, horse racing, lotteries,etc - lakini bliz, habana yuko wariahe dahani yake hii yote haiye!

Kenyans lets face it, we have a form of naivety that's disabling.
when a basic house on forest road goes for 10m, clearly who is it being sold to?
it beats logic that the middle class who should be buying these houses are now rushing for plots in the outskirts.
why is it becoming impossible for us to afford basic services in our own country?
the people arguing otherwise, have u tried buying plots/ houses in other countries?
our govt is simply unfair to us.
the somali menace is getting to far too fast.
another 5 years will see us more xenophobic than south Africans.

Good people of wazua, before we start pointing fingers lets go back to the basics of economics: price is a factor of demand and supply. The demand for housing by far outstrips the supply! Which major real estate devs have we had in the last 30 years? I cant think of any. The urban population meanwhile has grown 10 fold. So where are all these people housed? Think of the informal settlements and there is fierce compe for the few middle class houses available. The prob is that the gov, ncc and private developers have not delivered. You cant say that somalis buying houses are now more than kenyans doing the same.