One man was shot and killed in a clash between a section of residents in Mathare slums and police overseeing the ongoing demolition of structures on riparian land.
The man identified as Silas Ngila, 25, was shot in the chest and died on the spot in Kiamutisya area, police said.
This happened on Wednesday evening as a group confronted police manning the ongoing demolition.
The group said the exercise had impoverished them and they had no alternative place to stay with their families.
It was then that a commotion ensued prompting police to open fire to disperse the group.
The body of the man was later discovered in his mother’s kiosk in the area with a bullet wound in the chest.
Police said they are investigating the incident. This angered residents, even as more police officers were sent to the area on Thursday and Friday.
The body of the victim was moved to the mortuary pending postmortem and other investigations.
This brings the number to seven, the number of people who have been killed in clashes over the ongoing demolitions targeting structures on the riparian land along Nairobi and Ngong Rivers.
Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei termed the deaths unfortunate.
The government on May 2 invoked the provisions of the law on the preservation of public security and issued a 24-hour notice for all persons residing or carrying out any activities within the 30-meter riparian corridor to voluntarily relocate or otherwise face compulsory evacuation for their security and safety.
Officials say thousands have been displaced in the exercise and that riverine ecosystem trees will be planted.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said recreational facilities will also be established on both sides of the riparian reserves to be accessed and used by members of the public for free.
The government will utilise paid labour drawn from local communities living along settlements contiguous to the riparian reserves.
Kindiki made the revelations amid protests that those whose structures are being demolished have no alternatives for their relocation.
And to prevent re-encroachment, the reclaimed riparian reserves are being fenced and trenched.
The exercise of unclogging, draining and rehabilitating the natural waterways of the rivers is set to start shortly.
“Security personnel are under strict instructions not to use violence or otherwise mistreat members of the public,” the CS said in a statement last month.
“Members of the public must be allowed to vacate structures or premises which are the subject for removal and to retrieve their belongings.”
Kindiki said torrential rains and the consequential floods led to the deaths of more than 300 Kenyans and massive destruction of property and livelihoods in many parts of the country.
In Nairobi, dozens of families perished in the dead of the night, swept by raging flood water as they slept in residential structures illegally constructed for rent within the riparian reserves of Mathare, Ngong and other mini tributaries, which in sum constitute the Nairobi Rivers ecosystem.
He said the pain occasioned by the tragic loss of human life and destruction of family and business premises erected by unscrupulous persons for profit was more profound within the fragile ecosystem due to the obstruction, clogging and the diversionary effect of the rivers on account of structures erected within the 30-metre riparian corridor protected in law.
Up to 40,000 households comprising 181,000 individuals have already voluntarily complied with the Public Security (Vacation and Mandatory Evacuation) orders of May 2 and relocated.
“Prohibition of residence and activities within the Nairobi Rivers riparian reserves and the removal of unlawful structures therefrom remains an irreversible national security project to create resilience for the City of Nairobi to withstand the shocks of climate change and mitigate the loss of lives, property and livelihoods in the likely event of future torrential rains and the consequential flooding,” he said.
“Besides saving human life from destructive storm water, reclamation of the Nairobi Rivers riparian reserves will boost security for communities living around, eliminate the use of river banks for the manufacture, sale and consumption of illicit, toxic and harmful alcoholic drinks, peddling of narcotic drugs, and destroy the hideouts of dangerous criminals who have been using structures erected on inaccessible riparian reserves to plan criminal activities and to retreat there after committing crimes.”
Kindiki said his ministry is implementing the presidential directive to provide a one-off government support of Sh10,000 for each of the 40,000 households affected.
Already, 25,000 households have received the money.
Those affected by these orders will receive priority consideration in the ongoing affordable housing programme, the CS said.
“The government will pursue to the end the national interest of the reclamation, rehabilitation and regeneration of the Nairobi Rivers riparian reserves without any regard whatsoever for partisan, ethnic or other parochial interests.”