This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
On Monday, a team led by Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohammed Badi repossessed a plot in Westlands, Nairobi, which had been converted into a garage and parking lot. The land was said to have been earmarked for a clinic.
Clad in full military regalia, Maj-Gen Badi ordered that the land reverts to the Ministry of Health. He was accompanied by Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi and area MCA Jayendra Malde.
However, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has dismissed Badi's order, calling him and his team 'busy bodies'. Sonko took a swipe at the leaders, terming them as playing bad politics and blame games over suspected grabbed public land and utilities in Westlands Sub-county.
“Being silent is not being foolish. I have just seen some busy bodies trying to play bad politics and blame games on Highridge public hospital land and other public utilities in Westlands constituency,” Sonko said.
He challenged the leaders to also visit South C, where he claimed a businessman was constructing a mall on county land earmarked for a nursery school and public playground.
During Monday's incident, Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang' claimed that cartels at City Hall were behind the grabbing of public land in Nairobi.
Malde said he had tried to repossess the disputed plot, but encountered resistance from “powerful individuals”.
On July 16, 2020, Badi ordered that the land reverts to the Ministry of Health, saying, “This is now public land. Any private developer found here should be arrested and prosecuted. We cannot continue having a system where some individuals think they are greater than the law and the State,”
