President Uhuru suspends demolition of South B houses

By Isaac Meso and Immaculate Akello

Nairobi, Kenya: Demolition of buildings that allegedly occupy a piece of land belonging  to the Livestock and Fisheries Ministry in South B has been suspended indefinitely following a directive from President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The demolition exercise saw the destruction of over 20 new residential homes which were still under construction at Executive Housing phase 2 estates on Wednesday morning.

The suspension came after intervention of Nairobi Senator Mike “Sonko” Mbuvi, who is said to have talked to President Uhuru via phone to call off the exercise.

Mbuvi, who was at the site during the demolition exercise told the President that the affected residents had not been served with any notice from the ministry prior to the demolition and pleaded with him to suspend the process.

Mbuvi’s remarks were also echoed by investors and house owners occupying the piece of land, who were infuriated by the ministry’s move to bring down their buildings, noting that the government was being insensitive to their plight.

Beatrice Karanja, one of the current owners of the houses marked for demolition, claimed that they bought the land and have genuine documents to prove that they did not acquire the land illegally.

She explained that they have been paying land rent to the government and that the demolitions caught them by surprise as they had not been given any notice on the intended demolitions.

“We have been here since 2009 and we have been paying land rents to the government ever since. If the land was illegally acquired, why does the government accept the pay? Where were they when we started the foundations of these houses, why did they have to wait till now?” said Karanja.

Isaac Kimani, an investor in the piece of land said that the land was sold to them by the government and didn’t understand why the same government would come back to claim that the land was acquired illegally.

Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries Felix Kosgey said after their consultations with the President, they had decided to suspend the demolition process to allow for more time for the investors and house owners to relocate from the piece of land.

“We have talked with the President and decided as ministry that for now, we are going to suspend the demolition process to give time to the residents to relocate. As you have witnessed this morning, we have started the repossession process and this shall continue relentlessly,” he said.