We will not honour eviction orders, Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa says

Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa (left) addresses a security meeting in his office in Mombasa. [PHOTO:GIDEON MAUNDU/ STANDARD]

By NGUMBAO KITHI

Mombasa, Kenya: Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa says any court order requiring that thousands of squatters are evicted from a disputed land could breed chaos if implemented.

Estimates show that about half a million people in Mombasa live as squatters on government or private land.

About ten court orders have been issued by several courts including the Court of Appeal calling for eviction of squatters.

Marwa said Friday the government was working on a system to buy off the land where squatters were staying to avoid forceful eviction of the local landless people.

“The government is trying to resolve the land crisis in Mombasa and we are not going to honour court orders to evict the local people, we are trying to find a solution to the land crisis,” he said.

He directed the police officers to refer to him any pending court order as the national government has halted such orders.

He spoke when he addressed 50 chiefs and their assistants at his office to discuss the Nyumba Kumi Initiative.

He directed the OCS heading various police stations in Mombasa to halt eviction of squatters until the matter is resolved.

“Come to my office on Monday and see the number of court orders we have decided not to honour. We are not going to be used to cause problems in this town,’ he said.

He said President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were against the move to evict squatters.

“We are not going to cause tension by eviction of squatters on claims that the court has given orders, the police and the chiefs are not going to allow such a move to continue,’ he said.

Churches and mosques

He directed the local chiefs in Likoni and Kwabulo in Bamburi to protect squatters from eviction.

“I demand that the chief in Likoni where the disputed Waitiki Farm is found must remain with the squatters and nobody is allowed to evict them,” Marwa said.

He said the local security meeting has already clustered the mosques and churches and each church and a mosque would be protected in the area.

“Police have clustered churches that are close to each other and mosques, such places are going to be our lookouts every day to ensure security,” he said.

He said the chiefs and their assistants have taken over the Nyumba Kumi as their responsibility and they are expected to give constant reports on what is happening in their regions every day.

“We want chiefs and their assistants to be responsible and give daily reports on what was happening in each of the places they are in charge of and stop blaming each other when there is a problem,” he said.

The commissioner said Mombasa County was not expecting a major crackdown as is happening in Nairobi but was using a different method.

Must-carry documents

“I cannot, however, rule out having the same thing happening in Mombasa if the strategy in place does not give results,” he said.

The principal officer in charge of identification cards in Mombasa, Aggrey Chitunga said Kenyans must ensure they have identification cards while foreigners must have alien identification cards or passports.

“A Kenyan must have the ID, a foreigner a passport and anybody without such documents must face the full force of the law,” he said.

The assistant director of immigration Dan Oponi said the government was strict on the issue of passports and warned that anybody who was staying in the area without such documents would be arrested.

Likoni chief Suleiman Mwinyi Babu said chiefs would ensure the Nyumba Kumi Initiative was owned by the local administration.