There was joy in Trans Nzoia County after Woman Representative Janet Nangabo paid six months' worth of rent for two families.
According to a report by The Standard, the lawmaker stated that she was moved by the plight of the families who had been ejected despite the tough economic times occasioned by the surge of Covid-19 infections.
"As a woman, I really feel their pain. I appeal to landlords to consider families unable to pay rent because of Covid-19," Nangabo told the press.
Esther Loki and Martine Otero, both mothers of five children, had been kicked out of their rental houses for failing to meet their rent obligations.
The families were residing at Mitume Estate in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County.
After hearing of their struggles, the lawmaker offered to settle their owed rent with a lump sum payment of Ksh60,000.
This has not been the first time the MP had come to the rescue of distressed families as on Thursday, May 28, she had settled two-month rent arrears for several families.
The families had the roofs of their rental units removed by their landlords over failure to pay their rent on time, in what has become the default response by owed landlords.
The affected families came from the slums of Mitume, Kipsongok, Tuwani and Matisi with the lawmaker learning of their struggles through the media.
The families paid rental fees of between Ksh2,000 and Ksh4,500 every month.
"This is a great Godsend present from our County MP Mama Nangabo to us who have been occupying rental premises which are required to be paid for. Some of us are suffering because we lost our jobs and we are facing hard times financially,’, stated elated Ruth Nekesa, a mother of four.
Since the pandemic hit the nation in March, there has been a rise in the number of evictions across the country with a Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) survey dubbed Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Households Report, finding that one-third of tenants countrywide were unable to pay their rent in April 2020.
This is an addition to over 7,000 families being rendered homeless in government-sanctioned demolitions in Ruai, Mathare and Kariobangi areas.
