Survival Instinct, Residents React

The Cabinet on Thursday approved the demolition of old worn-out council houses to pave way for low-cost high-rise buildings complete with modern health facilities, schools, and multi-storey parking facilities.

The announcement triggered a stir among residents of the estates to be affected as fast as it had reached them. Some residents saw this as a government’s scheme to rid them of their strategically placed homes private developers have been eyeing for a while.

A dispatch from the Presidential press Service which sought to placate the residents by saying that the operation will be done while safeguarding the rights of existing tenants has barely been successful.

Residents of Shauri Moyo, Kaloleni, Makongeni, Jericho, Maringo, Bahati, and Mbotela estates that have been earmarked for demolition insist that the project is not meant to benefit them but some rich people who will be able to pay the expensive rental fees.

Said Jackline Atieno, who has known no other home apart from Makongeni: “Uongo tu, hizo keja zitapatianwa kwa masonko (It is a lie those houses shall be given to the rich).

Demolition of Shauri Moyo was given a nod in the beginning of last year by City council big shots as a pilot project and even some of the residents confirm having been issued with eviction notices.

Members of the public described the initiative as “long overdue” but expressed fears the welfare of the poor residents might be overlooked. The resultant modern units, they said, may end up not benefit the largely poor residents but those with connections and deeper pockets.

A similar project in Kibera produced mixed reactions from the slum dwellers. While some were excited to move in to houses that were once beyond their wildest dreams others saw the whole thing as a government hoax to snare them out of their shanties and leave them homeless. They were particularly suspicious of the government’s directive to demolish their shanties as they left. They also feared that the government would soon raise the rental charges from the Ksh1000 they had set as soon as they had occupied the houses.

Such fears seem to be gaining ground in the current initiative despite the government’s assurances to the contrary.

It will be interesting to see how the government fights this brewing feeling of defiance.