Days after President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the construction of the long-awaited 11.3km Changamwe-Mariakani dual carriageway, the demolition of structures have started, allegedly without notice.
The dual carriageway is meant to ease traffic on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway. Traffic at the Makupa Causeway, Changamwe roundabout, Jomvu, Miritini and Mazeras has been a nightmare.
Uhuru commissioned the construction on Thursday. On Saturday, 14 armed police officers guarded Kenha workers as they destroyed buildings worth millions of shillings at Bandgladesh on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
NGO Amnesty International has said the demolitions could lead to legal suits. It said the act amounts to a constitutional violation. “The demolition happened at around 4pm. The owners of the premises were called when the bulldozer was already on the ground and by the time they arrived, part of their premises had already been brought down,” AI Kenya campaign organiser Naomi Barasa said yesterday. AI said Saturday’s eviction marked yet another “state-sponsored destruction”. There has been controversy over the compensation of people evicted to make room for the SGR.
AI said the state did not notify and compensate locals before eviction.
“Despite Kenha agreeing to give affected businesses time to pave way for the construction, they went back on their word,” Barasa said. Nursery schools were among the demolished buildings. “No notice was issued. No court order was served to the business owners,” Barasa said. She said the police used excessive force to evict people. “There were officers from the Kenha headquarters in Nairobi and others from Mombasa who said they were under instructions from the legal team to oversee the evictions,” Barasa said.