Naivasha MP Jane Kihara, on Thursday, October 9, joined irate locals in protesting against the ongoing construction of a multi-billion-shilling development on Kenya Railways land in her constituency.
The site in question was the subject of mass demolitions three years ago, when several businesses were forcibly evicted to make way for public infrastructure development.
Tensions threatened to boil over once again on Thursday, when the project re-emerged, prompting the MP and local residents to take to the streets in protest at the alleged construction of a mall on this prime piece of land.
Kihara demanded full disclosure of the entities behind the new project, accusing the president's office of orchestrating the eviction of locals.
“The President must tell Kenyans who is developing the Kenya Railways land in Naivasha town,” Kihara said. “It has not been forgotten that the people of Naivasha were evicted and property worth millions of shillings destroyed.”
The MP particularly highlighted the case where a four-star hotel was demolished in the same area during a previous wave of evictions. Kihara insisted the hotel's proprietor held a valid 30-year lease agreement and had still had 28 years remaining on his lease at the time of demolition.
According to Kihara, Kenya Railways had, at the time, maintained that the land required national infrastructure development but questioned why the same land appears to have been leased to a private developer.
She added, “Today, the same piece of land has been taken over or leased out, and I have received credible information that it is the President's associates who are behind this,” she alleged.
Kihara further noted that attempts to seek clarification from the leadership of Kenya Railways have thus far been unsuccessful. “Efforts to reach the Kenya Railways Director have proven futile,” she lamented.
In March, Naivasha was in the spotlight once again when more than 100 families were forcibly evicted from Ndabibi amid allegations that senior government officials were colluding with a government corporation to repossess land from farmers.
At the time, Kihara was also at the centre of criticizing the evictions as she accused senior government officials of being behind the farmers' woes.
Meanwhile, the National Land Commission (NLC) has made deletions, corrections, and additions to the original list of land parcels that were set aside for the construction of the Nairobi - Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) projects.
In a gazette notice dated October 6, NLC Chairperson Gersom Otachi, 25 parcels totalling up to 4.8585 hectares will be acquired, 11 parcels totalling up to 1.1373 hectares will be deleted, and 2, totalling up to 0.1442 hectares, will undergo amendments.
The commission said that the changes made to the 38 parcels of land have been executed on behalf of the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), according to Otachi.
