Woodley home owners turn to police as Sakaja goes silent on evictions

A view of the Woodley Estate not demolished. [David Gichuru, Standard] Residents of Woodley Estate in Nairobi are now seeking police protection against goons who are carrying out evictions in the neighbourhood. According to the locals, for several weeks now daring goons have been targeting some homeowners and evicting them with claims that the county wants the land for development of affordable housing. The residents also accuse some powerful individuals in City Hall of eyeing some houses in the neighbourhood, citing accrued rents that were waived about seven years ago. In one of the viral clips last week, a group of youths were captured throwing out an elderly couple from their legally owned home, which has now been allocated to senior staff in City Hall. Woodley Estate sits on a 100-acre piece of land comprising 188 bungalows and 96 flats. For this reason, the residents, through association chairman Sam Gachago, accuse some senior individuals in the county of eyeing some houses. "The whole eviction is not about rent arrears because, during the Sonko regime, the arrears up to May 1, 2019, were waived, and no one had an issue with that until the current administration came and said it does not recognise that and tenants must be evicted," he stated. Adding that, "It is puzzling because the estate has different categories of residents, with some owning title deeds and have been evicted by goons under the watch of senior officials who have the blessing from the county executive." The chairman said about a year ago, the county hived off ten acres for redevelopment, which affected only 20 tenants who were supposed to be compensated so as to move elsewhere. "But the current eviction is now targeting even those who were not affected. Some individuals in the county have taken advantage of the rent arrears and development issues to illegally take over some bungalows and flats," the chairman added. "So far, about 20 tenants have lost their properties to goons. They storm into houses, sweeping everything and carting them away towards Kibera. Sakaja is using jungle law, yet the waiver by Sonko was legally recognised," the chairman added. And now, the residents, through their advocate Frank Karanja & Co., have written to Nairobi Regional Commander George Seda to deploy police officers to quell the situation. They claim that despite the High Court's ruling directing City Hall from carrying out any activities, some individuals have defied the order. "Earlier this year, a dispute arose between our clients and the county government concerning rent arrears, which were waived through a Gazette Notice No. 2728 Vol. CXXIII-No. 55 that remains in force," they stated. Adding that, "Our clients, through their officials, instituted proceedings in the High Court Judicial Review seeking orders to compel the implementation of the said Gazette Notice and for a joint account reconciliation." Owing to this, the High Court stopped the county from eviction of the residents until the matter is heard to conclusion. "Regrettably, these directives have not been adhered to. Our clients have reported multiple incidents orchestrated by the county in which county-enabled goons have forcibly entered their residences, leading to massive theft of property," the letter reads in part. Due to this, the residents have filed an application for contempt of court against the County Chief Officer for Housing, Lydia Mathia, seeking to hold her liable for disobedience of court orders and the unlawful acts perpetrated. The matter is awaiting determination by the court, with a ruling expected in October. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, who recently defended a similar exercise in Eastlands, did not respond to our inquiry over the Woodley evictions, while Chief Officer Lydia Mathia said there is no operation at the moment in Woodley, or those complaining might not be the genuine tenants. She added that those complaining ought to come out clearly with exact and genuine details about the evictions. But the residents, in the letter to the Nairobi County Commander, claimed, "The residents have continued to endure significant hardships, including recurrent theft and threats from individuals claiming to have been newly allocated their homes." While some of the matters have been reported at Kibera Police Station, the residents asked the Nairobi County Commander, Seda, for additional police officers to enable timely and effective response when incidents involving the county-enabled goons accompanied by some employees arise. "We kindly seek your intervention to broaden the scope of investigations to include those claiming recent allocation of our clients' residences while the status of the lawful residency remains unchanged," the residents said.

Woodley home owners turn to police as Sakaja goes silent on evictions

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Woodley home owners turn to police as Sakaja goes silent on evictions

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