Government urged to respect court order halting demolitions in Nairobi
Businesses operating along the Dar es Salaam Road have expressed concern over the ongoing demolition of buildings on the waterfront.
This is despite last week’s High Court order halting the demolition of businesses after affected traders approached the court.
However, senior government officials are now overseeing the demolitions and the traders want them held in contempt of court.
They have also said they will take them to court to be held personally liable.
The businessmen claim that the ongoing demolitions are selective and question why the government is targeting some businesses and leaving others out.
“We bought this land in the 1960s. It was forest land. At that time, the government had a plan to establish industries. We bought it and later developed it in the 1970s and 1980s,” said Holet Mwangale, a businessman in the area.
He added that the policy at the time was that the land was to be used only for setting up factories and that to this day there is no residential house along the Dar es Salaam road.
Mr Holet said the authorities then came up with the idea of an artificial canal to drain the rainwater.
“It is this canal that has made us victims. It has never flooded and we are being unfairly targeted,” said Mr Edwin Muli.
Mr Muli added that successive regimes had given the business owners title deeds, approved building plans, business permits and that everything was above board.
“We pay taxes to the KRA. This is a blanket order to demolish our business. Some of the buildings they are demolishing are very old and not recently built. All the procedures have been followed. What’s left is unemployment and the death of local industry,’ said Muli.
Judge J.A. Mogeni of the Environment and Lands Court issued the orders restraining Cabinet Secretary for Internal Affairs Professor Kithure Kindiki and the Nairobi City County Government from demolishing the buildings on the pretext that they are on riparian land.
This comes after Sagoo and Nyotta Limited, together with JYOTI Hardware, sued the CS and Nairobi City County for carrying out the demolitions.
The demolitions began following President William Ruto’s directive on May 3, that the state would restore the waterfront.
He said the exercise was aimed at reclaiming and rehabilitating the Nairobi river corridor.
In June 2022, the National Environment Tribunal issued a permanent injunction against the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), barring it from demolishing all properties along the Dar es Salaam road that are alleged to be on riparian land.
NEMA was also restrained from enforcing the improvement notices served on landowners along Dar Es Salam Road.