22 families from Kajiado County have been left stranded after a Chinese Company refused to honor a court's ruling to compensate them with Ksh32 million.
The families from Milimani in Twala went to sued the company after it used explosives to break rocks and pave the way for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). In the process, their houses were damaged and developed cracks.
Other house owners whose houses were still under construction were forced to stop construction after the foundations were destroyed.
"From time to time, they have been telling us that they were coming to do a survey and see the damages, however, despite the surveys, we have not received any compensation," Paul Mokoya one of the residents said.
"Our houses have cracked, they are always leaking, we are not living in peace," Wilfred Karanja, another resident decried.
The company was constructing the Naivasha-bound SGR in 2017 when the incident happened.
The residents revealed that they have been in court battling for compensation since 2020 and their breakthrough came on February 10, after the Land and Environment Court in Kajiado ruled that the victims be compensated.
However, the company rejected the court's decision, through its lawyers, the company issued a notice revealing that they were not content with the ruling and said it was going to appeal.
"After five days of the ruling, we got a notice of appeal from the company, saying that they were not in tandem with the ruling and that they will appeal, this has angered us, for how long will we continue waiting?" Mungai Murira another resident complained.
The residents are now calling on the government to intervene and help them compel the company to follow the court ruling and compensate them.
They are particularly worried that once the company leaves the country they might never get the compensation.
Apart from destroying the houses, the residents also revealed that the SGR construction led to the huge destruction of a borderline that was aimed at joining the area and its neighbor.
