Why we should never normalise forced evictions for any Kenyan

Kibarani is one of the most recognisable settlements in Mombasa County. Located just off the main highway, it is a place that majority of Kenyans pass by without thinking to stop.

This hard-working community evolved around the infamous dumpsite that for decades provided subsistence to the poorest of Kenyans in a most unhealthy and dangerous environment that people still called home. Kibarani was the last port of call when you were out of luck and out of pocket.

But its prime location, adjacent to the Indian Ocean and Mombasa Port, did not go unnoticed to private developers and land grabbers of every description.

In April 2012, dozens of police, hired assailants and a corrupted bailiff lacking court orders, supervised the destruction of hundreds of homes and their contents.

When you are at the bottom of the pile, you have no choice but to start afresh and so they did. With the legal support of Haki Yetu, they also challenged this illegal eviction and in November last year, Mombasa Environmental and Land Court finally ruled in their favour, but of course with no mention of compensation.

Threats remained, however, for these vulnerable residents. Just a few weeks ago, Kenya Railways personnel, along with hordes of goons, police and several bulldozers invaded the community at 3am and proceeded to make rubble and dust of 700 homes.

These homes had been constructed along the railway line that KR now wanted to utilise for the development of the Miritini to Mombasa line. Yet, there was no warning, no notice – just an ‘X’ daubed on the outside walls nine months ago.

The eviction was violent, brutal and illegal. No consideration for the education or welfare of hundreds of children learning at the nearby church run St Francis of Assisi school; little mercy either for the disabled who could not retrieve their few possessions.

Yes, this land was KR property and residents lived there illegally but they were not criminals. They are citizens with rights deserving respect and support to move out with dignity. Poverty is not a crime.

Kenya Railways spent $3.6 billion on the SGR line to Nairobi, a price per kilometre that is three times the international standard. Details of the fraudulent deal are yet to be made public thanks to a Supreme Court 2023 ruling that rejected their release.

The courts are not so hasty to proceed with a case whereby former National Land Commission Chairman, Mohamed Swazuri and the MD of Kenya Railways are jointly charged for selling KR land to itself to the value of $2m.

Yet, not a single penny went to these desperate families in Kibarani. Five kilometres up the road, the European Union compensated even the project affected persons (PAPs) that occupied road reserves needed for the refurbishment of the highway.

The silence of Mombasa politicians as forced evictions take place is deafening. The business, religious and political elites view events from their privileged position at the top.

Pope Francis was unique in viewing life from the bottom, from the perspective of those who are the leftovers of society, the discarded, the voiceless, the Kibaranis.

He showed mercy to those at the bottom for only the desperate would risk raising their families in such precariously contested land. They should not be criminalised but defended of the rights that the 2010 Constitution guaranteed them.

Around the same time another 3,000 families were evicted from 6,343 hectares in Gazi, Kwale from land owned by a prominent family, almost a complete replica of a previous eviction by the same dynasty from land in Njukuni, Taita Taveta in 2018. In both scenarios, cases were pending in court.

It may seem as if life goes on but it doesn’t for those who suffer. We may choose to ignore forced evictions, justify them or even support them. But we must never normalise it, and that is what is happening in Kenya today.