Tenants from Buruburu Estate in Nairobi County have blamed the county leadership for allegedly sending goons to forcefully evict them from the county-owned houses despite settling rent arrears.
Speaking on Friday, the residents revealed that the evictions began earlier this week, leaving dozens of families stranded, with their personal belongings thrown out, embezzled, and damaged while they watched helplessly.
According to the residents, goons posing as county officials broke into their houses, looted their valuables, and even went to the extreme of wearing their clothes and parading around the estates.
“I had just left City Hall when I got a call. By the time I returned, my house had been broken into, my bags taken, and strangers were walking around with my clothes. I had already paid my rent, and I dont understand why this is happening,” one of the residents who has lived in the houses expressed her frustrations.
According to the residents, the county is using intimidation tactics to reclaim the houses. Most of them have decried foul play, alleging that despite paying the rents, they are still being forced out.
Several tenants say they were not served with formal notices and were caught off guard by the sudden operation.
Efforts to seek help and stop the evictions have also remained futile, as estate officers and housing officials have reportedly distanced themselves from the operations.
“When we asked the estate officer, he said he didn’t know what was going on. Even the housing director claimed he was in the dark,” said another tenant.
Another resident raised tough questions to the county after alleging that they had been told they were removed from the system, leaving them wondering to whom they had been paying rent if they had been removed from the system.
They also raised concerns that the houses had already been allocated to new owners who had paid up to Ksh2.5 million and were awaiting to move in.
“There are very credible sources saying these houses have been allocated to others, with prices reaching up to Ksh2.5 million,” another resident who has stayed in the houses for over 30 years revealed.
The evictions come amidst an ongoing crackdown by Nairobi County as it seeks to recover rent arrears from tenants in county-owned estates. So far, the evictions have been undertaken in Woodley, Kariobangi South, Kariakor, Ngara, Uhuru Estate, New Pumwani, Lumbumba, Maringo, and Ofafa Jericho.
