- The residents on Sunday protested the forceful erection of three containers meant to be private business ventures on a road reserve right outside their houses.
- Kushe said a private business venture cannot be forced on public land against the public's wishes.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Residents of the Vescon 2 estate in Kadzandani ward, Nyali sub-county have accused some officials of the county government of protecting the interests of a private developer at their expense.
The residents on Sunday protested the forceful erection of three containers meant for private business ventures on a road reserve right outside their houses.
They say they fear the move, which was done without public participation, will bring insecurity to the estate.
“We are against the use of force to erect containers that will not benefit the residents in any way. This is an estate where people have bought houses expensively.
“Opening this kind of business venture here will not only compromise security but also bring about sanitation issues,” Vescon 2 Estate chair Walter Ndungu said.
He claimed the containers have no toilet facilities.
“The fence to our estate is not that high and we fear some criminal elements will use these containers as cover to jump over the fence and get into people’s houses and steal,” Ndungu told the Star.
“If they were genuine they want to help the youth in Kadzandani, why didn’t they call them for a public participation session to get their views before forcibly erecting the containers there,” Ndungu posed.
The containers were the subject of a confrontation between two groups of youths 10 days ago when residents rejected the containers.
Some ten people were injured as police were forced to shoot in the air to disperse the rival groups.
Curiously, when the containers were brought then, they were accompanied by a group of youth armed with crude weapons.
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali and Kadzandani MCA Fatma Kushe then warned against imposing unwanted projects on their people.
“If they want to start a venture here, they should call for public participation on that people give their views. We will not allow people to operate like there is no law,” Ali said.
Kushe said as leaders, they ought to have been consulted before a project is undertaken in their areas of jurisdiction.
On Thursday, the proponents of the project again erected the containers and groups of armed youth were seen at a nearby carwash, ostensibly to protect the containers.
Later that evening, there was a second round of clashes between proponents and opponents of the project.
Several people were injured in the melee.
On Sunday, Kushe said there is more than meets the eye in the erection of the containers.
“There is something fishy going on here. The residents have refused this project. Why would someone insist on erecting containers on a road reserve right next to people’s backyards?
“Who is this person who is being protected by the county government? Why has the county government allowed this to happen? Is someone in the county government eating with this private developer? We want to know,” the MCA said.
Kushe said a private business venture cannot be forced on public land against the wishes of the public.
She said it amounts to land grabbing.
“The county should know that they are the custodians of public land on behalf of the public. It is not their land, it is the land of the people of Mombasa and they should be consulted before anything is done on their land,” she said.
The county government however said the project is meant to create jobs for the youth in Mombasa.
Lands executive Hussein Mohamed said there is a better way to register complaints and not disrupt peace or try to destroy property.
“If the residents or anyone else feel there is a case of land grabbing, they should follow the right channel to seek redress. They can go to court,” he said.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI