Kenya's Laini Saba evictees appeal to Senate over stalled Kenya Railways resettlement
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Displaced residents and traders in Laini Saba, Kibra, told a Senate committee that only a fraction of promised houses and stalls have been delivered, with some units still lacking water and sewer connections.
Residents and traders displaced by Kenya Railways projects in Laini Saba, Kibra Constituency, have appealed to the Senate to intervene over stalled resettlement programmes, incomplete housing units and inadequate trading facilities. They appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing.
Figures presented to the committee showed the scale of the shortfall. Of the 1,432 residential occupants enumerated in the Laini Saba zone, only 256 had received houses, while 583 of the 833 enumerated business occupants had received stalls. The remaining beneficiaries continue to face uncertainty, with some living in temporary or decanting sites and others operating businesses in unsafe and unsuitable locations.
The petitioners, led by Victor Wamae and Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course MCA Davidson DNG Ngibuini, said some beneficiaries who received housing units are living in deplorable conditions because the units lack basic amenities, including water, sewerage, lighting, fencing and functional sanitation. Ngibuini said the absence of sewer connections had forced some people to occupy the toilets.
Wamae said some handed-over houses remained incomplete, particularly because they had no water connection, and the petitioners flagged that Phase Two construction at Jamhuri, behind the Nairobi City County Inspectorate Trading Centre, had reportedly run out of funding. They said traders who won ballots for houses had not received their units, forcing some to remain at a decanting site in Magade.
Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute, who chaired the session, pressed the petitioners for accurate figures and warned against contradictory numbers. Nominated Senators Peris Tobiko and Hamida Kibwana raised questions over the safety of affected families amid heavy-rain forecasts and over the legal basis on which residents and traders occupied railway land. The petitioners asked the committee to facilitate release of the Resettlement Action Plan documents, investigate alleged procurement and contractor irregularities, upgrade market stalls, provide compensation for livelihood disruptions and clarify the legal status of the affected land.