This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
On Monday morning, thousands of residents in Kariobangi sewage slum were left homeless after the structures were demolished.
The demolitions were carried out after residents were given a 24-hour eviction notice, citing that the land was grabbed from Dandora Estate Waste Sewerage Treatment Plant in Ruai.
However, some residents claim that they were only given a verbal notice on Sunday to move out by the end of the day, leaving them with no time to find alternative housing.
"They came and only told us to move out, now we have no money to move to new houses, they could have at least given us a month to look for a place to go," said one resident.
The reclamation of the land is part of the government's efforts to handle sewerage needs and water supply to the 9.3 million residents of the Nairobi metropolitan area.
Only 50 per cent of Nairobi has sewerage coverage, leading to gross pollution of water sources, rivers, and the environment, endangering both the ecosystem and the people living in such environs.
According to some residents, they were allocated the plots by Nairobi city council in 2008 and have been paying to the county since then.
"We have the allotments and the receipts that we have been paying to the county since 2008. We have nowhere to go, it's raining and due to Covid-19 many of the residents have no money because many of our jobs have been affected by the pandemic," said one of the affected residents.
The government has turned to remove the mole that has grown under its watch for decades, with the reclamation of the land being one of the measures taken to address the issue.
Other projects, such as the Sh20 billion sewerage project financed by a loan from African Development Bank and French Development Agency, are also underway to improve sewerage coverage in Nairobi.
The project, expected to be complete by July 2020, will see 80,000m³ a day of sewerage treated and thus connecting more households in Nairobi to the sewerage system.
