@Yobramos4
Residents of Changamwe’s National Housing Corporation estate in Mombasa were left to spend nights in the cold after their houses were demolished on Friday morning.
The residents woke up to bulldozers razing their houses with tens of heavily armed police officers keeping watch.
They cried foul, saying although they had been issued with vacation notices they had a pending court case over the matter.
Leah Maina, a resident, said she woke up at 6am to take her child to school but heard a lot of noise outside. It was police officers.
“I started screaming calling on neighbours to wake up. Then I heard a voice saying, 'This woman is calling the others! Bring down her house!' When I turned, I saw my house being razed,” Maina said.
She said they are in court over the matter and the demolition ought not to have taken place until the matter is heard and determined.
“We have gone to the Court of Appeal over this matter. It seems they will not respect any court. I could not salvage anything from my house,” Maina said.
She accused the government of ignoring court orders, adding that there will be no need for the courts if their orders will not be obeyed.
Evans Rajoro, a tenant, said they ought to have been given time to remove their stuff before the demolition.
He said they were being forced into houses worth Sh15,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit yet they had been paying an average of Sh7,000 a month for the same.
“Is that really affordable?” he posed.
Joseph Ochieng, who had stayed at the NHC estate for five years, said there had been contradictory information about the court case.
He said the units they are being forced into are too small and expensive.
Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi and Changamwe MCA Bernard Ogutu watched helplessly as the bulldozers razed the houses.
All they could do was help the tenants try to salvage the little they could.
Affordable Housing and Markets Coast regional coordinator John Karanja said although the tenants filed an appeal in court, there was no court order stopping the contractor from taking possession of the site.
“Nor is there any order saying the status quo should be maintained. If it were there, we are a law-abiding institution, we would not have come here to take over the site and redevelop,” Karanja said.
He added: “Today, we are happy to bring the contractor to take possession of this site. This contract was awarded way back in September last year but the contractor had challenges in taking possession of the site because of a few individuals who did not want to give way.”
He said the NHC had earmarked a five-acre area, which had 84 units, for redevelopment, and they intend to put up 1,000 units to replace the 84.
He said out of the 84 units earmarked for demolition, only 19 people were yet to vacate while the rest had voluntarily vacated the houses by the time of demolition on Friday.
Karanja said the NHC built 84 new units for the families that had been occupying them and that only 65 of the families moved to the units voluntarily.
“The 19 remaining ones are the ones who refused to comply with the notice,” Karanja said.
The first notice of vacation was issued on January 24, 2018 and a reminder was sent on August 10, 2023.
Karanja said the 19 are the ones who went to court but the court did not grant them their prayers.
“We have engaged the local leadership, the tenants, and the community leaders to implore them to give way for the redevelopment,” he said.
Karanja noted that in 2018, NHC gave the 84 families the right of refusal of the new units to be developed.
“We are doing it (eviction) in broad daylight because what we are doing is the right thing,” he said.
NHC says it has a master plan for the entire Changamwe site, which is 58 acres in size.
In the master plan, the government intends to put up two public primary schools and a sports ground, among other amenities.
“Phase 1 of the entire master plan is to do 100 units within 2.1 acres. In the five acres currently we have 84 units but in our master plan we intend to do 1,000 units in those five acres.
“That is part of the affordable housing plan to make sure that we create more units to have more people having decent and cheap accommodation,” Karanja said.
Phase 1 is to be done within a year and Karanja said already they have lost four months.
“So we need to do a lot to accelerate and ensure we deliver these units by next year September,” Karanja said.
The government also intends to put up more affordable houses at VoK on the 22 acres of land belonging to Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
Already, the government has advertised the project and is in the process of identifying a suitable contractor.
“We also have Ganjoni, where we are likely to have another affordable housing project on 4.2 acres of land,” Karanja said.
In conjunction with NHC, the government will also do another affordable housing project on 10 acres of land in Changamwe across the road from the NHC estate.