The Interior Ministry has stated that a decision directing 40,000 families residing in the riparian reserves of the Nairobi, Mathare, Ngong, and other minor tributaries that together comprise the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem to relocate will not be overturned.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki informed the media on Monday that the orders were made in the interest of the country and would not be rescinded because of local, political, or ethnic considerations.
CS Kindiki stated, “Prohibition of residence and activities within the Nairobi Rivers riparian reserves and the removal of unlawful structures there from remains an irreversible national security project to create resilience for the City of Nairobi to withstand the shocks of climate change and mitigate the loss of lives, property and livelihoods in the likely event of future torrential rains and the consequential flooding.”
The government would keep removing any structures built within a 30-meter radius of the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem. The CS reported that 181,000 individuals, living in 40,000 households, have left the riparian reserves of the Nairobi Rivers.
The government will provide a stipend of Ksh. 10,000 to the families that are about to be evicted in order to facilitate their relocation.
According to the ministry, about 25,000 households have already benefited from the Ksh. 10,000 in government support that was promised to them; the remaining households can expect to receive the funds by mobile transfer by Friday.
CS Kindiki claims that no buildings will be permitted to be rebuilt along the riparian corridor. Instead, the cleared land will soon be trenched to make way for the construction of public leisure places that the general public will be able to utilize for free.
Several families lost their lives in the middle of the night, according to the Interior Ministry, when their unlawfully built houses for rent inside the riparian reserves were overtaken by rushing floodwaters while they slept.
The government is confident that reclamation will address the problems caused by destructive storm water, improve security for nearby communities, end the use of riverbanks for the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal, toxic, and harmful alcoholic beverages, as well as the peddling of illicit drugs. Additionally, it will destroy the hideouts of dangerous criminals who have been using buildings built on inaccessible riparian reserves as both a planning and retreat area for their illegal activities.
