Water and Sanitation Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki, has defended the government’s move in carrying out night evictions within estates in Nairobi County.
During an interview on a local TV station on Wednesday, November 18, the water CS explained that the government was facing serious challenges from land cartels who have grabbed several pieces of government land within the capital.
Kariuki went ahead to highlight the Ruai evictions where over 3,000 acres of land allocated for the Dandora sewage treatment plant had been grabbed by businessmen.
"It was anticipated in the ‘70s that population in Nairobi would continue to grow. Therefore, wastewater management which is currently being directed towards Dandora required reserved land so that as the population grows, we can be able to expand the processing capacity,"
“But we have a team of business people and civilian guys coming in and taking over 4,200 public land reserved for a very specific reason many years ago and taking occupation. They even went ahead to put in structures,” the CS stated.
Kariuki also explained that the occupants of the land who were evicted during the night had been compensated adding that the evictions were the only option for the government at that point.
"They had been compensated from what I understood and the records that were there previously. They got back to the land again. Therefore, we had to move them," the water CS revealed.
However, Kariuki noted that some of the residents were innocent as they had purchased the land without knowledge that the land had been reserved for a government project.
"Unfortunately some of the civilians would fall victim to what we call a cartel or an opportunistic business person. I am glad to say that we moved in as national government and we repossessed this land,"
“We want to direct waste where it needs to be so that it can be treated because it is beneficial to everyone,” she explained.
Additionally, the water CS revealed that the government was cautious of what they had experienced with the cartels further disclosing that they had to start infrastructural development on the land immediately after the evictions.
"Not just taking over the land and keeping it. We had to take over and start infrastructural development immediately," Kariuki disclosed.
On Tuesday, April 22, through a press conference, the Ministry of Water and the Ministry of Lands indicated that they would repossess over 3,000 acres of land in Ruai, warning residents that they would flatten their houses.
