Residents of Maweni in Kilifi County’s Malindi Town are furious because their homes were destroyed on Wednesday to make room for a road.
They said they were not given enough notice to vacate the area where the road connecting the Jesus Cares Center church to the Pentagon was going to be built.
Some claimed to have been promised a relocation, although they have been in the region for almost 30 years and that has not happened yet.
They were shocked to see the semi-permanent and permanent buildings being demolished by bulldozers. A few people worked feverishly to save their belongings.
According to resident Raphael Ramadhani, they had a deal with the authorities to move to Shakahola or close to the garbage site in Mayungu near Malindi.
Ramadhani pleaded with the county administration to honor its word and provide them with alternative land.
More than fifty women had been impacted by the destruction, according to Julia Mapenzi, the owner of a palm wine bar (mangwe) in the area. She begged Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi to assist them.
According to Fredrick Ngumbao, county government representatives originally selected a nine-meter-wide plot of land for the road’s development. He questioned why, once work had begun, the authorities had changed the road’s width to thirty meters.
Dadu Chome, the Malindi subcounty administrator, did not answer calls, thus attempts to get in touch with him were unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, Twahir Abdulkarim, Shella MCA delegate, claimed that public involvement was done and that locals had been properly informed of the plan to construct a road in the area.
According to him, the contractor had begun work on private property and needed to halt in order to make the necessary corrections before work could continue.
