This archive report was first published on 16 July 2019.
On July 31st, 2019, a group of over 50 families in Nairobi's Pangani area woke up to find their homes being demolished by city askaris in a midnight eviction.
The evictions, which were carried out with the use of lorries and bulldozers, left the residents with nowhere to go.
According to Maureen Siloui, the residents had agreed with the governor that they would be allowed to stay until July 31st, but the notice given to them was verbal.
‘‘We had a meeting with the governor and we pleaded with him and yes he agreed that we stay up to 31st July but the notice he gave us was verbal, we are not opposing this urban renewal but are we are being handled as thugs,we tried to tell them that our children are asleep they give us time nobody heard that.’’ She lamented.
Not all residents were compensated, with some being told to wait after submitting the required documents to the office of the governor.
‘‘Yes we have those who were given Sh. 600,000 cheque as compensation but not everyone, evicting all of us is not right where are we going and we don’t have money?’’ they posed.
