Undeveloped plots will also be restored to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). Safety concerns are said to have informed the latest planned demolitions, specifically for travellers to and from the United States – a country that is highly sensitive to terror threats. Should the properties be pulled down, it would be reminiscent of the round of demolitions in Syokimau in 2011 where devastated owners cried their hearts out as they helplessly watched bulldozers rip apart their newly built homes. Moses Nyakiongora, the chairman of the multi-sectoral committee on unsafe structures, said that a two-week notice dated September 28 seeking the removal of the buildings was intended to guarantee aviation safety without risking human lives on the ground.
The notice, which was served on 500 properties, including those around JKIA, Wilson Airport and the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) staff quarters in Embakasi Village, expired last Friday. Flight path Those in the know said the demolitions would start on the flight path for planes landing at JKIA.
Several of the targeted properties had been clamped with armed officers aboard several police trucks conducting surveillance by Thursday evening. General Service Unit (GSU) personnel were manning the properties that have been earmarked for demolition, and in one instance locked up workers in one of them for the whole day Monday to illustrate the gravity of the matter. Those detained had arrived to work as usual, ignoring a prior notice that has left landlords shell-shocked as they start counting losses.
Nyakiongora has asked the National Lands Commission (NLC) to revoke the title deeds that were issued to influential people for parcels within the airport, as part of a wider scheme to address the tough requirements Kenya had to meet before being granted direct flights to the US. On Monday, the KCAA sought to repossess the land where Weston Hotel, which is associated with Deputy President William Ruto, sits on. Mr Ruto’s lawyer, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, appeared before the NLC to defend his acquisition of the plot on Lang’ata Road even as he questioned the jurisdiction of NLC to determine its ownership.
[Article source: The Standard, by Moses Michira]
