Residents of Githurai in Roysambu, Nairobi, have protested against what they termed rampant demolitions at the Zimmerman Settlement Scheme.
They said they were living in fear, claiming they don't know when the next demolitions will be effected in the disputed 250 acre scheme.
The last destruction happened in May last year.
Hundreds of inhabitants said they lost property worth millions, including savings.
They accused a city businessman of being behind their tribulations, saying he claims to own the entire scheme albeit with no documents to prove his claims.
“There is a renowned businessman who has been moving around government offices so that our houses can be demolished as they did in May 2019,” the scheme's chairperson Margaret Wanyoike said.
“We don’t want to experience pain again, let justice prevail.”
They spoke during demonstrations outside the Zimmerman police post in Githurai 45 on Wednesday.
Wanyoike said the land belongs to more than 2,500 squatters, some of who have heavily invested on it.
They called for the government’s protection even as they await a court ruling on the dispute.
“He (the businessman) should stop. Our members got into lots of problems after their houses alongside other property were demolished,” Wanyoike said.
She said some members had constructed rental houses only to be reduced to beggars after the demolitions. "They leave in churches and beg to survive while others hopelessly returned to their rural homes.”
Wanyoike said some of their children dropped out of school for lack of fees.
"Imagine a 90-year-old man who owned a four-storey building but is now a beggar because somebody demolished his house."
The squatters said they had been peacefully occupying the land since 2002 before the man appeared with claims of ownership.
“The man has no title deed but takes advantage of new government officials who don’t know the land's history," the scheme’s secretary-general Michael Karanja said. He asked the businessman to wait for the court's verdict on the dispute.
Edited by P.O
