Osman Khalif Abdi, a former Member of the County Assembly for South C and a close aide to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, has been named in multiple accounts as a key figure linked to the irregular approval of building plans in the city.
Though he holds no formal qualifications as an architect or planner, he serves as the governor’s personal liaison and is widely referred to within City Hall as the “Total Man.”Professionals, other MCAs and residents’ groups have long described a system in which building files rejected by the Urban Planning Technical Committee later reappear as approved.
Online application portals have been reported to go blank, forcing applicants into private meetings. Decision-making, according to these accounts, has shifted away from the formal structures of the planning department.
In May 2024, the Nairobi County Assembly’s planning committee heard sworn evidence from then CECM for Built Environment and Urban Planning Stephen Mwangi.
He told the committee that two individuals without legal authority Chief of Staff David Njoroge and Osman Khalif had been sitting on the Urban Planning Technical Committee with the support of the governor’s office.
Mwangi said he was unable to prevent their participation.
The same hearings revealed that on 8 March 2024, Governor Sakaja held a meeting at his private residence on Riverside Drive.
The location is not a gazetted county office. One hundred and fifty-four building plans were discussed and 131 were approved. Both Khalif and Njoroge were present.
Khalif’s name has repeatedly surfaced in complaints from residents’ associations, professional bodies and MCAs concerning zoning changes, high-rise developments and the handling of approvals. Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai has publicly listed him among a group of individuals he says continue to influence the planning sector.
After the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission recovered large sums of cash from the home of a suspended chief officer, Alai stated that as long as Khalif and others remained influential, residents would not see fairness or confidence restored in the system.
Additional claims have extended beyond formal planning rooms. In late 2025 an Eastleigh North MCA alleged that Khalif received protection fees from borehole drilling companies along Captain Mungai Road, with facilitation said to involve an acting chief officer for inspectorate services.
Khalif’s own security has also drawn attention. In November 2023 he was abducted outside Sarit Centre by armed men and held for seventeen days before being located in Dandora.
He later sought court protection and subsequently returned to his role close to the governor.
The collapse of a building in Eastleigh has brought these issues into sharper focus. The Director of Public Prosecutions has instructed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to examine whether any actions or failures by county officials, the developer, contractors or other professionals contributed to the disaster.
The ODPP noted that no inquiry file from Nairobi City County regarding possible wrongdoing had been received at the time of its statement.
Governor Sakaja has pointed to external professionals and contractors, as well as weaknesses in the law and the loss of county prosecutorial powers.
He has not publicly addressed the presence of his personal liaison on technical committees, the approval of plans at a private residence, or the continued influence attributed to Khalif by various professionals and elected officials.
Observers describe Nairobi’s planning system as one in which proximity to power has often outweighed formal procedure. Khalif remains the most visible figure associated with that network because of his closeness to the governor.
Until the assembly testimony, the Riverside meeting and the pattern of professional complaints are treated as central facts, questions about accountability in the city’s development control process are likely to persist.
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