Residents of the Southlands neighbourhood of Lang'ata held protests on Saturday, opposing the government's decision to build affordable housing protests in the area.
Marching from the construction to the Lang'ata police station to file their complaints, they also claimed that the Ksh25 billion project was damaging the environment and ultimately their way of life.
During the protests, the residents claimed that the construction could disrupt crucial amenities in the area, such as the water supply and sporting fields. They noted that sufficient public participation had not been achieved.
"There are several places to do this. Not here. We have been suffering from water issues and drainage. We do not have any playground for our children. The recreational facility that was there at Uhuru Gardens has been taken away from us. Where will our young people take their girlfriends for an outing?" a resident lamented.
"They are planning to build a 17-storey building. There won't be sufficient sunlight for us. They will be peeking into our bedrooms from the 17th floor. We won't have any privacy," another added.
The construction in question is on a piece of land along Southern Bypass where preparations have already begun to kick off the government-sponsored affordable housing construction.
Reportedly, 15,000 houses are expected to be constructed on the 38-acre piece of land, a situation that has also angered residents who felt that the constituency already had a big population.
"In Lang'ata we are already around 50,000 people. If you bring 15,000 more people here that makes it 75,000 people. We want to tell the government and President Ruto that whatever they are doing is unacceptable," another resident stated.
Others even claimed that the land had been unlawfully grabbed to accommodate the project, stating, "We are saying this is a blatant land grab. This is public land, and the people of Kenya need to be informed. You cannot just come and start putting up 17-storey apartments behind our houses without telling us."
Elsewhere in the Park Road estate in Ngara, residents of one of the affordable housing projects have also been grappling with recurrent shortages in basic amenities since its launch in 2021.
According to the tenants, they have been experiencing intermittent water shortages, sometimes lasting weeks, which have led to steep prices. A 20-litre can of water reportedly costs up to Ksh150.
Despite monthly maintenance fees of up to Ksh3,000, other concerns raised by the residents are worsening security, and poor estate management.
