The government is investigating the Kariobangi North evictions that left 5,000 Nairobi families homeless.
Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna on Wednesday said a committee has been formed to investigate why the evictions were carried out at a time when the country was facing the Covid-19 crisis.
The residents were evicted in May. Their houses were demolished, an exercise that lasted more than three weeks. The elderly, mothers and children spent the nights in the cold. The area was well guarded by heavily armed police officers to keep at bay any person with the intention to return.
The residents were left exposed to the vagaries of the weather and the coronavirus. They could not keep the social distance, a requirement for the prevention of the spread of the virus. They also had to spend their nights outside despite the night curfew and could not leave the city because of the cessation of movement into and out of the Nairobi metropolis.
Titus Ndambuki, one of the evictees, told the Star at that time that they had lived on the "reclaimed" land since 2008. "We never imagined that the government can leave its people homeless during these tough Covid- 19 times,” he said.
But Oguna said the government is concerned about what happened.
"We had the Covid-19 outbreak and it was also a very cold season. You realise that some of the people who were evicted had title deeds and the land has been owned by the Nairobi Water and Company for some time. That is why we are also investigating," Oguna said in an interview on NTV.
"The land had been earmarked for expansion of various infrastructural developments in as far as sewer and water are concerned in Nairobi.”
He said the demolition should have been carried out earlier before the Covid-19 directives and in a human way. “It is known that that land has been owned the water company and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services is working out to see how they can assist,” Oguna added.
