Malindi demolitions to pave way for road spark outrage

Maweni residents in Malindi town, Kilifi county, are crying foul after their houses were demolished Wednesday to pave the way for construction of a road.

They claimed they had not been given adequate notice to vacate the land earmarked for construction of the road from Pentagon to Jesus Cares Centre church.

Some said they have lived in the area for more than 30 years and had been promised they would be relocated, but that is yet to happen.

They watched in disbelief as permanent and semi-permanent structures were pulled down by bulldozers. Some made frantic efforts to salvage their property.

Resident Raphael Ramadhani said they had an agreement with the authorities that they be relocated to either Shakahola or near the Malindi garbage dumpsite in Mayungu.

“This issue started during the Moi era. During the Kibaki era, then Malindi MP Gideon Mung’aro [now Kilifi governor], promised we would be given alternative land, but now we do not know what is going on,” he lamented.

Ramadhani urged the county government to keep its promise and give them alternative land.

Julia Mapenzi, who owns a palm wine joint (mangwe) in the area, said more than 50 women had been affected by the demolition and pleaded with Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi to come to their aid.

“This place has been holding more than 50 single mothers, who are taking care of their families. We have loans to settle. Where are we going to get money to pay for our children’s school fees?” she posed. 

Fredrick Ngumbao said county government officials had earlier identified land measuring nine metres wide for the construction of the road and wondered why after the work had started, the authorities decided to increase the road size to 30 metres. 

“What is more painful is that we were not been given adequate time to remove our items. The bulldozer is destroying a lot of our household goods,” he said.

Efforts to contact Malindi subcounty administrator Dadu Chome were unsuccessful as he did not pick calls. 

However, a representative of Shella MCA Twahir Abdulkarim said residents had been duly informed of the intention to build a road in the area and public participation was carried out.

He said the contractor had started work on private land and had to be stopped so the correction was cleared for work to resume.