Three residents of Phenom Park Estate in Nairobi’s Lang'ata area have accused a private company of violating their rights to clean water and denying their children a playing area.
Eric Ogumo, Juliet Kituyi and Jackson Wanjugu of Phenom Park phase 1, 2 and 3 respectively have opposed the construction of phase 4. They say it will deny their children a playground and leave residents with no alternative source of clean water.
They have sued Chigwell Holdings Limited, saying lack of a playing area will expose their children to danger given the minors are now at home until January 2021 owing to the closure of schools due to the coronavirus.
“The failure by the respondent to honour the promise of providing designated play areas for children is actually a violation of the constitutional rights of children as guaranteed under Section 4 and 17 of the Children’s Act,” the trio said.
The petitioners say their only source of water currently is a borehole, which is not safe for human consumption because of high levels of sodium, bicarbonates and fluoride.
“This violates the petitioners’ constitutional rights to clean and safe water in adequate quantities. Also, this invalidates the approvals as obtained before the commencement of the project.”
They said the developer in its marketing material had indicated that the development of the estate would consist of four phases with designated play areas for children. However, this is not the case and now the three believe they have been given a raw deal.
They listed the county government of Nairobi and the National Environment Management Authority as interested parties.
The case has not been heard with the other parties yet to file their responses.
Edited by P.O
