This archive report was first published on 9 July 2019.
On July 9, 2019, the County Assembly Planning and Land Committee made a landmark decision in favor of Silas Njeru and Florence Gatari Njeru, a couple whose properties were demolished in Kariobangi South without notice.
The couple had been allocated two plots in January 2002 under the KCC village formalisation project and had put up a permanent four-storey building on one of the plots after getting approval from the defunct Nairobi City Council.
They had also established a hardware and a car wash business on the premises, and had been paying rates up to 2017.
However, in March 2018, the building was demolished to pave the way for the construction of a fire station, leaving the couple with significant losses.
The couple, through MCA Benson Mwangi, had petitioned the county assembly on May 2, 2018, challenging the repossession of their plots by City Hall.
Following the committee's decision, City Hall will have to pay the couple Sh60 million as compensation for the demolished property.