Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru arrested in Nairobi
Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru (on phone) after he was arrested in Kayole on December 18, 2018. PHOTO | COURTESY
Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru has been arrested after he attempted to stop demolition of houses and structures at Nyama Villa estate in Kayole, Nairobi.
Mr Gathiru arrived at the demolition site on Tuesday mid-morning and confronted officers who were providing security as the operation went on.
Bulldozers and excavated snaked their way into the estate early morning and started flattening houses, and according to affected tenants, they were not issued with any notice to vacate.
Security was tight as the demotion went on. PHOTO | COURTESY
The lawmaker was roughed up and bundled into a police Land Cruiser after he demanded to see the notices that were issued to tenants.
Construction was still ongoing at the estate. PHOTO | COURTESY
Sources told the Nation that the estate was flattened because the 20-acre parcel on which it stands belongs to a private developer.
Tenants who talked to the Nation claimed their landlord did not inform them of the impending demolitions that caught the majority, including shop and salon investors, flat-footed.
Many left their belongings inside their houses and there were fears that some were destroyed by the excavators and buried in the rubble.
Police said Mr Gathiru will be charged with incitement with aim of blocking execution of a court order.
The more than 50 police officers said they had been deployed to the site to ensure the order issued by a Nairobi court to bring down the buildings was executed.
