Court of Appeal stops tenant eviction in Joho's multi-billion housing project

Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho. [Kelvin Karani/Standard]

The Court of Appeal has stopped the planned demolition of houses in 10 estates and the eviction of tenants.

Monday, appellate judges Alnashir Visram, Wanjiru Karanja, and Martha Koome stopped the county government from evicting the residents living in various estates that had been earmarked for demolition to pave the way for new houses.

In December 23, 2016, High Court judge P J Otieno ruled that the construction could go on after concluding that there had been public participation.

However, Legal Advice Centre, Haki Yetu, St Patricks, and Transparency International Kenya, through lawyer Willies Oluga, applied to stop the county from evicting the tenants, citing lack of public participation.

“How the respondents intend to relocate people they do not have a record of is baffling. The respondents ought to have identified the genuine and legal tenants, not only for the purpose of relocation but also for their participation in the project at inception,” said Mr Oluga.

The appellants contended that the Mombasa County Renewal and Redevelopment of Old Estates Programme conceptualised, formulated, and implemented the project without public participation.

They argued that most of the families currently living in the affected estates were poor.