Residents of Mukuru Kwa Njenga were shocked on Tuesday, after the government began demolitions and evictions in the Sepu area of the estate in Nairobi.
Images and videos circulating online show the residents in distress watching helplessly and in panic as the government knocked down their homes despite a subsisting court order barring any such action.
The demolitions at the Riara Zone of Mukuru Kwa Njenga remain suspicious, as the Environment and Land Court had issued a conservatory order prohibiting evictions, demolitions, or any interference with residents occupying the disputed land while the case is being heard and decided.
The goal of the order, which was issued earlier this month, was to protect locals from being forcibly relocated and maintain the status quo.
However, witnesses claim that early in the morning, security personnel entered the area, evicting locals from their homes and inciting fear and demonstrations within the community.
As fear and uncertainty grew, families were seen frantically salvaging household items, leaving many without a place to stay. Several locals are now homeless as a result of the incident; pictures show them carrying the remnants of their local iron sheet homes.
A heavy police contingent had been deployed at Riara to oversee the demolitions.
This has transpired days after President William Ruto handed over houses to a number of residents at the recently completed phase two of the affordable housing project.
The President, on December 18, handed the houses over to 4,500 people in a ceremony that saw them given fully furnished houses.
This follows an earlier handover of 1,080 units in the first phase of the Mukuru Kwa Njenga affordable housing project in May 2025. Upon completion, the Mukuru Kwa Njenga affordable housing project will have a total of 13,248 housing units.
The project in Mukuru aims to move residents from informal settlements into modern, dignified homes. The government plans to transform the slums into the proverbial Singapore.
In other demolitions in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, residents of Makongeni estates were recently forced to leave their homes so that the oldest estate could be demolished to make way for affordable housing.
Other demolitions occurred in May 2024, when houses on riverbanks and riparian land near the Ngong River were demolished in accordance with a presidential directive aimed at mitigating flood risks.
Mass demolitions took place in the area during the construction of the Nairobi Motorway and the expansion of Catherine Ndereba Road. The demolitions resulted in the displacement of over 40,000 people.
