Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has told off critics over the planned relocation of families from the Nairobi Rivers corridor.
Speaking on Tuesday after he toured various sections of the Nairobi Rivers, Kindiki said leaders politicising the preservation of the Nairobi Rivers ecosystem undermine the country’s national ideals of providing dignified housing to citizens.
He said it also undermines the protection of dangers posed by climate change.
“Last weekend’s attempts by some politicians to trivialise and politicise the historic project of preserving and protecting the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem undermine the national ideals of providing dignified housing for all citizens and the protection of the public from dangers posed by climate shocks within sensitive ecosystems,” Kindiki said.
He insisted that the government will pursue to the end and without any form of deterrence the national interest of reclamation, rehabilitation, and regeneration of the Nairobi River riparian reserve.
Kindiki noted that clearance, rehabilitation, and protection of riparian reserves of the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem and other affected watercourses in the country remain an irreversible national security project to protect the public from harm and for the creation of resilience in the City of Nairobi to withstand climate change shocks.
He added that riparian reserves have been cleared, and the next phase will entail the unclogging, draining, and rehabilitation of natural waterways of the rivers as well as planting of trees and the establishment of recreational facilities under the ‘Climate Works Mtaani’ program.
“Besides ensuring public safety and climate shock resilience, this important project aims at boosting security for communities living around the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem as well as eliminating the use of riverbanks as inaccessible hideouts for criminals or places for the manufacture, sale and consumption of illicit brews or the peddling of narcotic drugs,” he said.
The CS added that the 40,000 affected families will be prioritised in the allocation of affordable housing units that are under construction in other parts of the city.
The Interior CS’s remarks were in response to politicians who claimed that the people who were displaced from riparian land have been left suffering, yet some of them owned title deeds for those properties.
A city MP claimed that the funds disbursed by the government to help the displaced families only reached a few people.
He said most of those displaced are suffering, calling on Gachagua to raise the same in their next cabinet meeting.
The Deputy President was accompanied by, among other leaders, former Laikipia Woman Representative Cate Waruguru, as well as a host of other elected leaders.
Gachagua, in his remarks, urged leaders to always be truthful in what they say.
He said that some leaders in the current administration are not used to being truthful, something he will continue to do.
