Tension in Kibera over eviction threat

Tension is high in Kibera’s Makini slums as members of Nubian community Sunday threatened to evict all residents from the area claiming that it is their ancestral land.

And on Sunday, rowdy Nubian youth set fire on an office used by Nubian elders who are assisting the government in spearheading the slum upgrading programme accusing them of being insincere and vowed to evict anyone from the area in the presence of police officers.

Local residents said the youth were going round threatening them with death if they continued staying in the area.

Letters seen by Nation that was used to threatening members from other communities claimed to be signed by a Mr Sheik Mohamed called on all non-Nubians to move from the plot or else face unexplained consequences.

“You must vacate this land by May 1 or else you will face dire consequences” alleged the undated letter seen by Nation.

Local residents said youths from the community are suspected to be behind a criminal gang that is terrorising them at night.

“We have told the police about this but nothing is being done” said Mrs Teresia Oloo who said she had been evicted from her house and a mosque erected on where it stood.

“We are living in fear but we have nowhere to go. The government should come to our rescue” she added.

Some of the youth interviewed by Nation said they were fighting for their rights since they believed their fathers were the rightful owners of the land.

“Kibera belongs to Nubi and once the slum upgrading programme is on; we want to be given the title deeds of this plots” said Mr Abdi Noor “this is our land and we want title deeds as we had been promised by the prime minister”.

He said the slum was originally a military reserve for Nubian soldiers who served in the Kenya African Rifles.

“The Kibera lands committee has gone through the necessary procedures and the Prime Minister is expected to hand over the land before launching the Soweto slum upgrading programme,” he said.

He said Mr Raila Odinga, who is also the area MP, had assured them that once the process kicks off, they would be issued with title deeds.

According to the area DO Mr J Mwangala, Mr Mohamed is a self proclaimed Islam leader should be arrested and prosecuted for issuing the threats.

In a confidential letter written to Kilimani OCS and copied to the DC, Mr Mwangala says; “The man has now moved from issuing verbal threats to actually damaging property and evicting people.

Some of the latest victims include a Catholic Church, the PCEA and the Lutheran that had been converted into Mosques by Mr Mohamed and his team. I find it necessary that he should be arrested”.