The Uasin Gishu county government is evicting hundreds of tenants occupying its houses and owing millions of shillings in unpaid rent.
There are more than 50,000 people living in count estates in Eldoret, and the government says it will first evict tenants who have accrued rent arrears amounting to more than Sh200,000.
The evictions started at Pioneer estate, where acting director housing Beatrice Menjo together with her colleague for urban development Jacktone Kiprop led a team of enforcement officers in the exercise aimed at recovering rent from tenants some of whom have not paid rent since 2015.
"As a department, we have established that those with arrears of over Sh200,000 owe the county more than Sh22 million for Pioneer estate alone”, Menjo said.
Menjo said those who owe the county must pay up and comply with all tenant requirements or be evicted.
“We have begun this exercise and we intend to continue until all arrears are paid fully. We begin with those with arrears of over Sh200,000 then come down to 100,000 and finally to clearance of all monthly rents,” she said.
Menjo said the county gave out notice of compliance severally and that some of the tenants headed the call to pay up while some ignored.
“We shall reclaim back all houses that are in arrears as concerns rents," Menjo said.
The county administrator for lands and housing Sila Boit together with the principal housing officer Isaac Sang said that the eviction process will be smooth and all tenants are advised to pay up the rent before their tenancy term ends.
Menjo said on the first day of eviction last Friday the county received positive response from the tenants who paid up more than Sh1 million.
"The exercise is not easy but it's all worth the effort. We hope all the tenants will comply as we also go farther to all our estates until we attain 100 per cent compliance," Menjo said.
Kiprop warned tenants against erasing house numbers in an effort to conceal themselves.
He said it was punishable to renovate or adjust anything in the county houses without seeking approvals from the physical planning department.
"These are government houses and no one should do any illegal businesses or constructions within the premises,” Kiprop said.
Human rights activists in the town have however claimed that county officials were allocating themselves the houses after evicting tenants, but Menjo denied the allegations and said those who pay up are not removed.
