More than 30, 000 Kibera residents have been rendered homeless and still counting their losses worth millions of shillings following the demolitions of their houses by Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), to pave way for a road construction. Kibera slum is the second largest slum in Africa after Soweto in South Africa.
KURA exercised the worst ever flattening of houses in the slum that left thousands of families homeless and in dire need of help. Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kennedy Odede, expressed his disappointment with KURA, for conducting what he termed as inhumane act to the people of Kibera.
The sudden flattening of thousands of homes to pave way for the construction of a road linking Ngong Road and the Southern by-pass, was termed by KURA as a way of easing traffic jam in the city. Speaking at Lindi Village, while donating food stuffs to hundreds of evictees who thronged SHOFCO Library in Lindi, Odede urged the evictees to use the organization’s centers as they look for elsewhere to move to.
“I do not want people to spend nights in the cold. I am asking evicted people to use SHOFCO centers for shelter for the time being,” Odede said, amid gloomy atmosphere that engulfed the evictees.
“I am going to seek for help from Red Cross and churches in town. In case of any donations, it will be given to the affected residents directly,” says Odede. He, however, stated that he had heard of Ngong-Langata Road construction plan way back but wondered why the government had authorized establishment of houses in that area in the first place.
