Makasembo Estate residents have been left in confusion over eviction as they get different communications from the Kisumu government and the National Housing Corporation.
There has been a row between the county and the NHC over plans to implement an affordable housing project, with the county accusing the corporation of frustrating its efforts over Sh1 billion debt.
The houses in question were developed by the old municipal council using a loan from the corporation. The council, however, defaulted on payments and consequently handed over the houses to the NHC, asking it to collect the rent and pay itself until the debt is fully paid.
The county government last year accused the NHC of using the debt to hold them to ransom despite a series of consultations and agreements reached on how to settle it as the housing project is implemented.
Governor Nyong’o said the county is committed to settling the Sh1 billion debt for Makasembo to be freed up for the project. He said the NHC has already recovered the principal amount through rent collection.
“Unfortunately, we have come across tremendous roadblocks created by the NHC,” he said.
A meeting convened on October 26 failed to take place after the NHC allegedly warned stakeholders and tenants against participating. It accused the county government of planning to engage the tenants without involving it in a letter dated October 27.
The NHC is now accused of refusing to vacate tenants. Governor Anyang' Nyong'o late last year appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and write off the debt.
However, residents said they are frequently threatened by the county government with displacement and demolition to make room for the Big Four agenda pillar of affordable housing.
The members of Makasembo said they do not object to any development that will improve their lives.
“We are fully aware of the national government objectives of building affordable houses across the country. We are 100 per cent in support of the Big Four agenda,” they said.
Led by Makasembo Welfare Ad hoc Committee chairman Christopher Amollo, they noted that they had received a gazette notice from the NHC and correspondence from its lawyers restraining the county government from engaging with them until their matters are concluded.
They expressed concern that the defunct municipal council of Kisumu currently under the county government and the housing agency in their agreement on loan harmonisation arrangement, attached Makasembo, Arina, Ondiek, Mosque and Argwings Kodhek estates and since April 1992 they have been remitting their rents to the corporation.
“We have received a gazette notice from NHC and correspondence from the NHC lawyers restraining the county government of Kisumu from engaging with us until their matters are concluded,” Amollo said.
He added that the county government and the NHC signed an MoU in September 2020 that Kisumu was to pay 10-20 per cent of the principal loan by December 31, 2020, so Makasembo would be released back to the county.
“We are aware that the county has not honoured its end of the bargain,” he told the press.
They expressed concern that they have received memos from the county government from October 2020 calling them for meetings to discuss redevelopment and upgrade of the estate without inviting NHC representatives.
Amollo said that on Friday, the county held a meeting at Grace Onyango Social Hall and in their deliberations concluded that they will compensate residents Sh4,000 for two years (Sh96,000) and urged those who were in the meeting to start demolishing their houses.
“Our question is: Who has the authority to demolish a government house?” he asked.
A community health worker attached to Lumumba Hospital noted that they have lost two babies from two mothers because of the matter.
"One is still in the hospital. The county government should think about this. What they are doing is not good health- and social-wise. It's not healthy for us,"
Wanjiku Kasera, who has stayed in the area for more than 50 years, said they should not be treated as strangers. Kasera said they should be consulted before decisions are made.
"Let the county government and the housing corporation come into an agreement over this matter. I was given the house by the municipality and later they transferred me to housing corporation. They gave me a letter and have been paying my dues to the housing. I've yet to get another letter that tells me otherwise," Kasera said.
