Buxton residents left homeless after Mombasa County gov’t demolishes houses

Hundreds of residents of Buxton Estate in Mombasa spent the night in the cold after the county government and a private developer demolished their houses just three days after Justice Sila Munyao dismissed a petition to stop the construction of 1,900 houses at a cost of Ksh.6 billion.

The residents on Saturday morning woke up to the sounds of the bulldozers and county askaris demolishing the houses they have called home for many years.

One after another, the bulldozers brought down the buildings as those capable of salvaging what they could did so and left fast before their houses could be brought down with them inside.

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir later stepped in to stop the demolition while blaming the Mombasa County government and the private developer for not adhering with the law.

“Tumekubaliana nao ya kwamba wawache watu waweze kutoa mali yao…it is not right…wengine ata pesa haijaingia kwa akaunti zao na wamewafanyia hivi…wengine wanaambiwa no money has been transferred,” he said.

With the national examinations around the corner, KCPE and KCSE candidates from Buxton Estate as well as the neighbouring university have been affected since Friday when hired goons are said to have cut off electric power and supply of water to the area.

“In Tom Mboya School there is no power right now…Methodist University there is no power…and Kenya Power are not the ones who disconnected it, power was disconnected from the transformer by unknown people,” added Nassir.

A court on Friday ordered for an interparty hearing in a case challenging the upcoming project, but did not however stop the project from proceeding pending the hearing.

Residents insist the court gave them at least two months to move out, only for the demolitions to begin three days after the ruling.