This archive report was first published on 12 May 2020.
Kenya: Forced Evictions Leave 5,000 Slum Dwellers at Risk of COVID-19 ¶
Published on May 12, 2020
Thousands of Kenyans in Nairobi are at risk of contracting the new coronavirus after authorities demolished their houses in the midst of the pandemic.
On Monday, authorities ordered bulldozers into the Kariobangi informal settlement in northeast Nairobi, demolishing some 600 homes and forcefully evicting at least 5,000 people, including many single mothers and children, said campaigners.
The state-run Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company claims ownership of the land, which it says has been illegally occupied since 2008. However, evicted residents say they bought the land from the city council and have documents to prove it.
"We are in a serious crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so evicting people from their homes and their only place of safety at this moment is wrong," said Ruth Mumbi, coordinator of the Grassroots Women Initiative Network.
Residents were given verbal notice of the demolition on Saturday, but rights groups secured a court injunction stopping the demolition the following day. Despite this, authorities proceeded with the forced evictions, said Mumbi.
Kenya's interior ministry, water ministry, and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company did not immediately respond to calls or emails requesting comment.
Many families could not travel to their family homes in rural areas due to restrictions on movement and were sleeping out in the cold and rain, said Mumbi.
The demolitions sparked outrage on social media in Kenya, with users sharing pictures of bulldozers flattening corrugated iron shacks and residents searching amidst the mountains of rubble for their belongings.
