Thousands of Residents in Kisumu were on Friday, February 5, left homeless in a night demolition exercise by the Kenya Railways (KR).
The demolitions which were conducted from 8 pm when the darkness had set in, caught the residents of Kibos area unawares.
Bulldozers descended on the houses with the heavy police presence in the area.
The families were left homeless and were forced to sleep in the cold.
"I have lost everything, we have no money or food. This was inhumane, the government should have allowed us time to remove our belongings," a resident recounted.
During the exercise, police lobbed teargas to disperse families who tried to resist the eviction.
Some tried to salvage what they could but a major portion of their property was destroyed as the bulldozers tore through the structures.
Kenya Railways had issued a notice for the residents to vacate but the residents maintained that there was a court that had issued an order stopping the agency from conducting the exercise.
According to KR, the demolitions were part of an ongoing exercise in order to reclaim the land from the businesses it claimed had encroached the land.
The exercise was preceded by one-two days ago when residents of Bungoma County were left counting losses after Kenya Railways demolished a mall, hospital, popular hotel, and other businesses.
The agency has conducted demolitions in Kitale, Kisumu and Bungoma as it seeks to reclaim land for the railway line connecting Nakuru and Kisumu.
The revamping of the Metre Gauge Railway line involves works in the western region, where the transport agency is looking to link the Standard Gauge Railway line and the Metre Gauge Railway line in order to provide a seamless connection between the Port of Mombasa and Lake Victoria in Kisumu and also main border point with neighboring Uganda at Malaba.
