Laini Saba residents appeal to Senate over stalled Kenya Railways resettlement

Jukwaa

📻 Breaking It Down

The residents, who appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing, said hundreds of affected families and traders were yet to receive houses and business premises promised under the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP).

The petitioners, led by Victor Wamae and Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course MCA Davidson DNG Ngibuini, said some beneficiaries who had received housing units were living in deplorable conditions due to a lack of basic amenities, including water, sewerage, lighting, fencing and functional sanitation facilities.

“You know to use the washroom. They can’t use the toilets because there is no sewer connection. There is no water, and that’s why some people have now even invaded those toilets and they are using the toilets as houses, as unbelievable as it sounds,” Ngibuini said.

📌 What You Need to Know

Figures presented to the committee showed the extent of the resettlement challenges.

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 petitioners said the remaining beneficiaries continued to face uncertainty, with some living in temporary or decanting sites and others operating businesses in unsafe and unsuitable locations.

Wamae said some of the houses handed over to beneficiaries remained incomplete, particularly because they lacked water connections.

“What happened in the past is that Resettlement Action Plan, as you can see in the document, and Chair, the Kenya Railways houses were built, and the Kenya Railways houses were handed over to the affected persons. But there’s a serious issue where, if you look at those houses as they are today, the houses are incomplete,” he said.

“One, there’s no water connection in those houses,” he added.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya

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