10,000 residents of an estate in Nyali's Kwa Bulo area, Mombasa, risk homelessness after they were served with notices to vacate from the area they have called home for years.
Taking to the streets on Sunday, January 16, the Nyali residents revealed that they had received the notices ordering them to vacate their homes after an insurance company staked claim on the 85-acre parcel of land.
They indicated that they had been hit with ultimatums to pay land rates of the properties they resided in with some households receiving bills as high as Ksh2 million.
Their pleas to both the National and County Governments have, however, gone unanswered.
"Insurance agents came here recently claiming that we are squatters on this land and that the land belong to them. Everyone was given their plot's bill with others being as high as Ksh2 million.
"There are people who are living in single rooms who have been hit by Ksh 60,000 bills," an elder from the area told the press.
He further noted that the notices had caused a spike in anxiety levels among the residents.
"People are very anxious. They can't eat or sleep. They have no idea where they will get all the arrears. We are now asking all leaders, from the County Government and the National Government to President Uhuru Kenyatta, to help us in this predicament," he added.
Corroborating his statement, another resident called on the county's governor Hassan Joho to step in and help them solve the matter.
She argued that Joho had promised to resolve the issue during his first term but nothing had been done.
The 10,000 residents are just a small slice of the 15,000 families residing in Mombasa Central Business District under absentee landlords.
The total number of residents under the programme known as tenants-at-will supersedes over 100,000 individuals.
