Officers in bungled Mukuru slum demolitions now sent on leave

 

Interior CS Fred Matiangi addresses residents of Mukuru slum in Nairobi's South B.[Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has announced that two senior officers who were involved in the Mukuru land tussle will be held to account.

He blamed the police for the bungled operations at the Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums, where one person was shot dead and two others injured during an operation on December 27.

“We have to strike a balance between court orders and the rights of the people. Those (officers) will be called to account,” Matiang’i said yesterday when he engaged the locals alongside his Lands counterpart Farida Karoney.

Separately, Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai confirmed to The Standard that two senior police commanders in Nairobi and a member of the provincial administration, who were part of the Mukuru demolition operation have been sent on forced leave.

The IG however declined to comment on what action the Government intended to take on the three.

The CS spoke at a forum in Nairobi’s South B that brought together community leaders from the Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum.

Find solution

The meeting was aimed at finding a solution to the impasse following the demolitions to pave way for expansion of Catherine Ndereba road.

But even as the Government officials met with the leaders from the slums, another group claiming to also be officials of the same slum camped outside the meeting venue in protest.

The group that included former Embakasi South MP Ishrad Sumra and current MP Julius Mawathe were locked out of the meeting chaired by Matiang’i and attended by among others Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, Karoney and Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohammed Badi.

Following the meeting, Matiang’i said the Government had with immediate effect stopped any activity in the slums including sub-division of land until after it had been surveyed. At the same time, the Lands Ministry plans to within 14 days identify the genuine land owners after which it will issue title deeds.