Slum dwellers’ fortune is landlords’ misery

By Joe Kiarie and Kenfrey Kiberenge

While broad smiles characterise the faces of most tenants in Kibera’s Soweto-East village, landlords are sulking over looming loss of income.

Most of the about 500 landlords in Soweto-East village have been earning their daily bread from the shanties they own in the slum, some for up to 30 years. But the proposed demolition of the structures once the tenants are relocated has caused fury among the owners, who insist they must be compensated since they will lose land and other property.

About 84 landlords went to court last week and obtained an injunction to stop the demolition of their structures for a week.

One of the landlords is Cyrus Kimemia who earns Sh18, 000 from 24 structures.

The father of five has lived in Kibera for 24 years and says the then DO gave him the land in 1984. Upon retiring as a clerk with the Postal Corporation of Kenya, he says he used part of his Sh240, 000 retirement payout to buy more land on which he built more structures.

"That is why I feel so much pain as I cannot just sit back and watch as my retirement benefits disappear. I want to be given title deeds for my plots or relocated," he says.

Also to be affected is Millicent Anyango, a mother of six, who is a widow. The 32-year-old landlady owns seven houses. "I stay in two of them with my family and earn a livelihood from renting out the other five at a cost of Sh600 per month. I can say without fear that I am not ready to leave Soweto at whatever cost," she said.

She wondered how she would cater for her family’s basic needs if the structures were demolished. Millicent, who has lived in Soweto East village for 20 years, says she is expecting nothing short of title deeds for her plots.

She says she can use the title deeds as security for a bank loan to start another venture for a livelihood. "If I leave with nothing, how does the Government expect me to even pay rent for the new house?" she asks.

Josephat Odhiambo, 49, also a landlord says he built 25 units in 1984 using savings he accrued from small-scale businesses. He says the then DO gave him the land.

Besides the houses where he collects between Sh600 and Sh1,000 a month, the father of eight also sells water. When the project started in 2003, Odhiambo says, the impression the Government gave them was that it was to benefit everyone.

"They made us believe that it was like giving Sh20 to somebody who had Sh5," he says.

But he says they later learnt the structures were to be demolished, stone houses erected and then sold to former tenants.

He is among those who had moved to court to seek an injunction over the impending demolition.

 

 

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