Civil servants accuse Jubilee politician of illegal eviction

Nakuru Jubilee chairman David Manyara addressing journalists in Millimani Estate, Nakuru on May 9, 2018. [Harun Wathari/Standard]

Jubilee Party chairman David Manyara is on the spot over alleged illegal evictions of 45 families from houses owned by the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya.

It is not clear how the former Nakuru town MP was sucked into the tenancy agreement row between the company and tenants, who are mostly civil servants, but he told journalists that he was acting on behalf of the Government.

The tenants have accused the firm of hiring goons to evict them over alleged rent arrears but Mr Manyara said he was acting with the blessings of farmers.

"We cannot have a situation where the company fails to pay farmers and workers due to financial constraints yet people are not paying rent to the pyrethrum company," he said yesterday when he went to a house in Milimani estate occupied by the family of a former civic leader.

Asked by the media why he had taken up the matter yet he is not an employee of the company or an appointed agent, Manyara said as the local ruling party chairman, he was entitled to ensure that people living in Government-owned houses paid rent.

But Paul Lolwerikoi, the company's managing director, said he was not aware of Manyara’s role in the tenancy row.

At least 20 families are contemplating suing the company for illegally evicting them.