Evictions don't have to cause death and pain

 

The pain visited upon three families in Mukuru kwa Rueben and Mathare in Nairobi during the recent demolitions could be avoided.

Three children, including a 17-year-old boy, died separately during the demolitions. The 17-year-old boy was trying to recover some valuable items when an inpatient operator dug in, cracking his skull with the teeth of the excavator.

The other two include a sick child in the house while the other body was recovered from the rubble. Those are losses parents and relatives would never recover from, all because someone acted in haste and without consideration.

All that was needed was a little patience and understanding of the situation and nature of the residents. This does not mean I’m oblivious to the situation and the deaths and losses of property as a result of floods.

I agree that there was an urgency to save Kenyans along the riparian strips, but given the purpose and objective, there was no need for force and haste. I’m sure all residents agreed that their safety from the ravaging floods was paramount.

For those reasons, the evictions and demolitions in Mathare and Mukuru kwa Reuben were supposed to deviate from other violent, forceful and inhumane evictions witnessed before.

Even during previous forceful evictions, we have rarely seen deaths caused directly by the demolition process.

This was a perfect chance to demonstrate that it is possible to be humane during evictions. It was an opportunity to set a new and higher standard for demolition and eviction. Providing support to evictees was not just a government promise but an international standard.

The obligation of states to refrain from and protect against forced evictions from homes and land arises from several international legal instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the non-discrimination provisions found in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and Article 5(e) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

On account of the above and special provisions of Kenyan laws, including the Constitution, any person affected by evictions, either by loss of property or painfully by loss of loved ones, has reasons to seek legal redress. Due process ideally means engagement and, where possible, a little room for patience. Patience in itself is an important virtue and the heart of ethical behaviour.

One of the ways in which a new standard would have been established was to make sure all residents and their properties were moved into a safe space from which they could find new residences.

Ideally, it was not the structures that were threatened but the residents, their properties and their livelihoods.

The writer is an anchor at Radio Maisha