Anxiety as KAA attempts to evict over 400 families from houses

By Mutinda Mwanzia

Tension gripped Embakasi area, Nairobi after hundreds of families were threatened with eviction from Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) houses.

Confusion reigned as some tenants started to remove their belongings from the houses as others vowed to stay put. Heavily armed police officers cordoned off the over 400 houses and ordered tenants to remove their belongings sparking protests.

Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu arrived at the scene and urged tenants not to vacate the houses, terming the evictions illegal.

"KAA should stop intimidating tenants," said Waititu.

The MP held a closed-door meeting with senior police officers at Embakasi Police Station with sources saying they agreed to withdraw the officers cordoning the houses.

KAA officials were unavailable for comment, but senior officers at the scene said the tenants had been served with notice to vacate the houses. Most of those living in the houses are retired KAA officers and their families while others have rented out the houses.

On Tuesday, the tenants vowed to stay put saying they had nowhere else to go. "The evictions will be resisted at whatever cost. We are going nowhere," said Abel Kinyua, a tenant.

He said they were paying Sh2,500 monthly to KAA, adding that it was the wrong time to evict them.

"Many people do not have money at this time of the month to look for alternative accommodation. KAA should be considerate," he said.

KAA and the City Council of Nairobi have been tussling over the ownership of the houses with the matter ending up in court.

City Director of Planning Tom Odongo said the evictions were not procedural. Odongo said KAA had not consulted the council, adding that the move was causing anxiety and tension in Embakasi.

On Tuesday, business in Embakasi village was disrupted for the better part of the day as traders shut their premises for fear of fights between locals and police.

Bulldozers that had been ferried to the scene were withdrawn after locals threatened to set them on fire.

Waititu later in the afternoon led representatives of the tenants to City Hall where they met officers from the city planning and legal departments.