30,000 Kibera residents facing eviction for road expansion to be paid, official
The stalemate surrounding the looming eviction of Kibera residents on the stretch of land destined to be a road reserve will be amicably resolved, according to the residents’ association chairperson.
This quells fears of protests by the residents decrying their impending evictions by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) from the stretch of land intended for road construction.
Nubian Rights Forum (NRF) chairperson Shafi Ali Hussein, who represents the Nubian Community, said that a meeting held on Tuesday morning between the two sides resolved to compensate those who would be affected by the construction of the Ngong Road-Kibera-Kiungu Karumba-Langata link road.
RESETTLEMENT PLAN
In the meeting, presided over by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KHCHR) chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori and National Land Commission (NLC) vice-chairperson Commissioner Abigael Mbagaya-Mukolwe, the institutions agreed on a resettlement action plan.
Mechanisms for compensating those to be affected by the road construction was also agreed.
“Given the challenges that have arisen from the building of the Kibera transport corridor, this meeting was necessary so that those involved could come together and seek a harmonious way forward, without unfairly infringing on any of the rights of those involved,” said Ms Mbogori.
She added that the meeting was effective in settling most of the contentious issues and what remains is ensuring those to be relocated are removed in a humane way.
“As we have agreed in the meeting, we will ensure that those who will be affected will be well taken care of, and the infrastructure demolished rebuilt,” said Kenya Urban Roads Authority’s (Kura) Eng Timothy Nyomboi.
30, 000 DISPLACED
According to Mr Hussein, the 600m long and 60m-wide road, will displace up to 30,000 people and take up to 10 acres of their land.
“A door to door census is set to be immediately done to facilitate the process of their compensation; who will largely include the landlords and property owners,” said the NRF chairperson.
He added that, provided the resettlements are done, residents are okay with the development.
“The impasse arose due to Kura not using the right processes to address the issue. They should initially have consulted with us, who will be affected, KNCHR, and NLC, among a few others, and this would have been averted from the onset,” said Mr Hussein.
The Nubian Community own 288 acres of land in the area and the construction of the transport corridor had been interpreted as annexation of their land.