10,000 Kakamega tenants told to vacate estate over safety concerns

The Kakamega government has asked more than 10,000 tenants of Jua Kali estate houses to vacate on safety grounds.

In a notice by the Department of Lands, Housing, Urban Areas and Physical Planning, chief officer Patrick Olukoko said most buildings on the estate, which is Kakamega town, were constructed without requisite approvals.

"The structures are also occupied without obtaining occupation certificate. This is exposing tenants to danger since the structural stability of the buildings is unknown," reads the notice dated July 2.

The county government has directed building owners to carry out a structural audit by a qualified structural engineer by August 5, 2020.

They have also been asked to submit plans for all existing buildings accompanied by the structural audit report by the same date. A building collapsed on the estate last year.

"Failure to comply with this notice, the county government shall enter the said buildings and execute the requirements of this notice at the owners' expense," the notice read.

But Kakamega Jua Kali Association chairman Patrick Luvusi protested, saying it would be unfair to ask more than 10,000 residents to leave within such a short time. The Jua kali association was allocated the land by the defunct municipal council during the Moi regime for construction of artisans’ shed. They instead constructed rental buildings.

"We would have expected the governor’s administration to engage us in structured dialogue over the intended inspection exercise. The county has records of property owners who are our members and can easily tell whether there was supervision by engineers during the construction or not,” Luvusi said.

He said tenants who pay between Sh3,000 and Sh6,000 were now reluctant to remit rent following the issuance of the notice for fear they could lose their money.

In support of the notice, however, county Housing executive Alfred Matianyi on Monday said it is meant to ensure compliance with construction approval requirements for purposes of the safety of occupants. He said owners are also required to provide proof of change of user because the land was initially set aside for industrial use.

"We did an assessment as a department and realised the site had a lot of anomalies, which put the occupants of the buildings at risk. A decision will be made as to whether to regularise or demolish the estate after the structural audit," he said.

Matianyi said the National Construction Authority, public health officials, the county engineering department and environmental experts will assess the buildings to establish conformity to accepted standards for occupation.

According to a report by Edward Indimuli, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya’s adviser on devolved units, Kakamega Municipality Block 1/40 was divided into about 800 plots, which are covered with a mixture of storey and non-storey buildings for mixed use purposes and home to about 2,000 people.

The report says blocks 1/619 and 1/620 were also subdivided  into about 1,000 plots and developed by the artisans into mixed-use structures, predominantly hostels for students of Masinde Muliro University, and currently host 2,500 people.

Edited by F'Orieny