Buxton residents mark eviction anniversary with protest march

Sakina Bahloul, 70, lives in Mazeras with her brother and sees herself as a nuisance.

She is one of the 520 former Buxton estate tenants who were evicted to allow for demolition and reconstruction of their houses in 2021.

Bahloul had lived at Buxton estate for 34 years.

She received the Sh240,000 relocation allowance, having had Sh60,000 deducted as a deposit for a two-bedroom unit in the new apartments.

However, despite having the Sh60,000 deposit deducted, she has not been allocated a house and this worries her.

The first phase of the project is almost complete and handing over is estimated to take place in May.

Residents fear units in the second phase will be more expensive.

“I don’t know my fate. What I hear is that all the units in the first phase have been sold already,” Bahloul, who used to work in the hotel industry but retired, said.

She used to pay Sh3,600 a month in rent for the two-bedroom unit she used to live in with her husband.

Her husband died on October 13, 2021, seven months after they were evicted from the Buxton houses.

“We used to live in Block 19, Door 8. My husband and I were in the house when we suddenly heard a bulldozer bring down our house that fateful morning in March 2021,” Bahloul said.

This shocked and traumatised him and he started ailing then, getting in and out of hospital.

Almost all the Sh240,000 they received went into treating him, but he did not make it eventually, she said.

“By then, they told us they would give us first priority when the first phase is over. We were to pay Sh2.4 million under a tenant purchase agreement for the new two-bedroom unit,” said Bahloul, who now sells water to earn something to chip in at her brother’s house.

Her two children used to help with rent, but now only her son does because her daughter lost her job.

Fatuma Abdalla, who lived at Buxton estate for 45 years, said they were evicted like animals.

She said she paid rent for three months even when other tenants had refused to pay during the uncertainty over the then looming demolition.

 “I want them to return our houses in peace. Justice does not always drown,” she said.

The two were part of residents who marked two years since they were evicted with a protest march from Pembe za Ndovu along Moi Avenue to Treasury Square, where they met the leadership of the Mombasa county assembly.

They chanted freedom slogans, demanding that all those who were evicted from Buxton estate be allocated units in the new apartments.

They also want the private developer to return to the tenant purchase scheme they had agreed.

Led by John Tsuma, the deputy secretary general of the Buxton Estate Tenants Association, the residents met a section of MCAs led by deputy speaker Fadhili Makarani and county assembly housing committee chairperson Amriya Boy, who is also the Mjambere MCA.

They later met Governor Abdulswamad Nassir.

Haki Yetu Organisation programmes manager Peter Kazungu said out of the 520 tenants, only 40 have been allocated new units.

“This is because of the high cost at which the new units are being sold. When the affordable housing project was launched, it was meant to give decent housing at affordable prices for the tenants,” Kazungu said.

The human rights defender said Buxton estate, a county estate, is public property but has been turned into a private venture where the rich are being offered the units to buy.

Right now, to get a unit at the new apartments, one must qualify to get a mortgage. Most former residents do not qualify because, like Bahloul, most are retirees and earn peanuts.

“When they go to the banks, they are told they should be earning at least Sh100,000 a month to qualify for a mortgage,” Kazungu said.

Bahloul sells water to earn a living now and she earns about Sh13,000 a month from it.

Kazungu said the Mombasa government, which owns the land on which the new units have been put up, has been given only 10 per cent of the units, which translates to around 185 units.

“The land was valued at around Sh2 billion. Getting only 10 per cent of the units is an insult to the intelligence of Mombasa people,” he said.

However, the developer, Buxton Point Apartments Limited said all tenants were given first priority in purchasing the new units and their terms have been lower than the new buyers.

“Every single tenant was compensated accordingly and given preferential prices and terms,” said Buxton Point head of corporate communications Mohamed Ahmed.

Ahmed said cheques for Sh240,000 were given out to residents to allow them to start their journey to acquire new homes.

“This was in addition to the discounts given to them. We have a good number who decided not to spend the money but invest them back at Buxton,” he said.

Ahmed said they are also pushing for a tenant purchase scheme that had been agreed upon.

He noted that it is the national government that is in charge of offering tenant purchase scheme.

“We are more than ready to work with the government on the same. In fact, we have been pushing the government on the same. Unfortunately, this is a decision that can only be made by the government,” he said.

He told residents to help them push the government for the scheme.

But Haki Yetu legal officer Munira Ali said, “Housing people is not the primary goal of a private investor. The sole aim of a private investor is to make profits and that is why the investor has a share of 90 per cent (1,665 units) of the total 1,850 Buxton housing units while the county government of Mombasa’s share has been reduced to 10 per cent (185 units).”

She said the 185 units are allegedly meant to provide social rental housing to low-income earners, a negligible figure for 61 per cent of the population of Mombasa living in informal settlements in the county.

Mombasa has a population of more than 1.3 million, meaning over 793,000 people in county live in informal settlements.

“So, we wonder – is the government providing housing or increasing homelessness?” Ali posed.

She said Buxton public land was unlawfully leased for 99 years to the private investor for individual interest and not to serve the public interest.

However, Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said he has written to all the stakeholders involved in the project seeking to be furnished with all the information.

“I have also instructed the MCAs to be proactive so that we can protect our Mombasa residents. I must consider all the parties involved,” he said.

Nassir, who was the area MP when the project started, and who had initially opposed the project until all parties involved, especially the residents, were properly consulted, asked the MCAs to expedite their probe on the matter.

“When the final report is out, we will finalise this once and for all. We will then know what direction our people will go,” he said.

Nassir said the Buxton project has to benefit the residents and the matter needs to be settled so people can continue with their lives.

“I can feel that they are also tired,” he said.

Buxton Estate Tenants Association deputy secretary general John Tsuma said they signed tenancy termination agreement that gave them first priority in the ownership of the new apartments.

They have now been deliberately priced out of the units, he said.

However, Ahmed denied the residents are being priced out of the units.

“Let’s not speculate. We welcome them all to Buxton Point to view the prices. We are soon going to deliver Phase One,” Ahmed said.