Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Tuesday, August 4, condemned demolitions in Mukuru slums that left one person dead and several others injured.
According to residents, the demolitions were carried out by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to pave way for expansion of roads in the informal settlements, which saw left 5,000 families homeless.
The governor through his spokesperson Ben Mulwa termed the demolitions as inhumane stating that the disruptions were a point of concern.
“We are seeing a situation where some powerful and corrupt individuals seem not to care at all. As a county government, we will not sit and watch again. If they continue like this we are ready to fight them till the end,” he declared.
He advocated for planning prior for resettling the affected families before demolitions are conducted.
“We support the ongoing efforts to transform Nairobi, but everything must be done within the law.
“This is because those that are responsible for the demolitions are marking the properties to be brought down today and show up tomorrow at dawn without giving these residents sufficient notice,” he added.
On their part NMS, through the Director of communications Tony Mbarine distanced itself over the incident stating that the death was as a result of an accident adding that it had not forcefully evicted anyone.
“The man was bringing down his own structure when he had the accident. NMS was not involved and we have not had any forceful evictions in Mukuru,” Mbarine stated.
Mukuru kwa Reuben MCA Evans Otiso however stated that the man was killed as he was trying to salvage his property from a building that was collapsing.
“More time should have been given. We support the construction of roads in the city by NMS but this is a disaster because someone lost their life,” he conveyed.
Those who were injured in the incident were admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital while the body of the victim was taken to City Mortuary.
