•The painter said he bought the piece of land for Sh200, 000 and spend upto Sh1.8 million in total to put up the house that now lies in rubbles.
•Olang'o is all covered in dust, his wife sitting close to one of their sons as the other little one, barely 2, is laid to sleep on a leso spread on the ground.
Image: FILE
It was all dust as bulldozers crumbled palatial homes on the fifth day of the East African Portland Cement demolitions in Athi River.
As I walked into the area, young men with carts, motorbikes and bicycles ferry what remained of their building materials.
Heavy police presence was also visible as the law enforcers manned the site; armed with guns and teargas canisters.
A motorbike suddenly passes carrying a woman in black. Her face soaked, a display of much frustration.
We quickly followed the motorbike and it came to a halt in front of a half-demolished mansion.
The woman comes off the motorbike, her hands on her head and in tears, as she sees all her household items scattered on the ground.
In tears, she takes out her phone and records the last of her house that now lies in ruins.
"Weweee!" our attention is immediately diverted to a police officer shouting.
We stand confused as we see many young men running towards different directions with police chasing them
The officers were busy keeping out the men from the demolition site as some of the men were not at the site to sympathise with the victims of demolition, their's was a different agenda, they were stealing some of the household items and building materials.
Despite the effort, the men still engaged the police in run battles.
While demolition victims wept as they saw their investments wiped out, for some it was a feast especially for scrap metal dealers as they scrambled for the remains from the already brought down houses.
For others, it was business as usual; a woman could be seen walking around the site hawking cigarettes.
Most victims could be seen sitting as they watch their multimillion investments brought down as they guarded their household items.
I meet 33-year- old Dominic Olang'o sitting close to his demolished house together with his wife Lilian Musigisi and their two young children.
Olang'o is all covered in dust, his wife sitting close to one of their sons as the other little one, barely 2, is laid to sleep on a leso spread on the ground.
"I bought this piece of land last year. As a hustler I wanted to live a better life. I had said to myself that I was now done with rentals and this was a big achievement for me," he said.
The father of two said he is a painter and he used the money from his work to bring up the house.
"We could sleep hungry together with our children just to make sure the house was complete. Together with my wife we worked so hard towards saving for this house," Olang'o said.
Olang'o said they got to hear about the land from his in-laws and he was the only one from his family to ever build a house.
He said before he thought of investing in a house, he visited the office of those who sold him the land and they convinced him that he was not investing on sinking sand.
"Yes we had heard that there was a case concerning the land but the owners assured us that they had all the necessary documents and the land was theirs. We were assured everything was okay," he said.
The painter said he bought the piece of land for Sh200, 000 and spent upto Sh1.8 million in total to put up the house that now lies in rubbles.
Olang'o alleged that they never got any notice to vacate the land.
"I was at work when my wife called me saying, kunabomolewa! I was shocked. She said they just saw bulldozers approaching the area. That was the first day of the demolition and it didn't hit us that they would get to our house which they finally did," he said.
"This is like an accident and we cannot say that we had some money kept somewhere once our house gets demolished. We have nowhere to go and I remember telling my wife that we need to see our house going down for us to believe."
He said they made efforts to reach out to those they bought the land from and they kept giving assurances that their houses would not be demolished.
"Some give you hope while others just make you lose hope," he said.
The government has now summoned former police bosses and politicians to aid in the investigations into the Portland Cement fiasco, if this work out well maybe just maybe Olang'o and other victims could have the last laugh.
Those affected are also recording statements in Mavoko police station.
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Image: FILE