Stopping mass evictions takes courage

Friday Bulletin newsletter headline on the 2021 Kibos mass eviction

Nearly 400 kilometres apart, the communities of Kibos, Kisumu and Mukuru kwa Njenga, Nairobi had reasons to celebrate this last month. Two separate rulings by the Judiciary remind us that justice may delay, but when it swings in favour of those whose lives have been upended by forced evictions, it is sweet. This column was co-written with Wangui Gitahi, Amnesty International Kenya Senior Legal Officer

Four years ago, this column traced the inhumanity of the forceful mass eviction of the Nubian community from the 87-year-old settlement of Kibos. 3,500 men, women and children watched helplessly as tens of armed police officers, tippers and excavators descended on their homes. Taking place during COVID-19 night curfew, the operation left residents with nowhere to go. Millions of shillings worth of property and several lifetimes of savings were destroyed that Friday 5 February 2021.

Within days of the eviction, six community leaders rose on behalf of the community to sue the Kenya Railways Corporation. The residents argued that the Nubian community were the rightful owners of the land, not Kenya Railways, and the evictions had violated their constitutional right to property, dignity and fair administrative action.

On 27 August 2021, the Environment and Land Court in Kisumu agreed with the six complainants and ruled in favour of the community. The Kenya Railways Corporation immediately filed an appeal. On 21 March 2025, a three-judge bench of Justices Makhandia, Omondi and Kimaru threw out the appeal. Their ruling opens the door for the community to sue Kenya Railways for compensation, four years after that night of state violence.

Barely ten months after the unlawful brutalisation of the Kibos community, a similar cruelty destroyed thousands of homes in Mukuru kwa Njenga, one of Nairobi’s oldest informal settlements. Protected by heavily armed police officers, bulldozers and excavators deliberately ripped 40,000 residents from their homes between 13-15 November.

Like Kibos, there was no attempt to follow the legal, policy and administrative alternatives contained within Lands Ministry and UN Habitat guidelines. No offer of resettlement or emergency financial support. There were no education, immigration or social welfare officers to assist those who needed new schools for their children, had lost citizenship documents or needed psycho-social counseling.

Betrayed by their state, the residents were left to protect themselves and stop the evictions. Several community leaders emerged to slow down the evictions and prevent those who claimed they were the owners, from occupying the rubble that remained. Suleiman Njenga and Martin Odhiambo were among them. While the Mukuru residents have been able to hold onto the land, the legal dispute continues in court.

Widely known as community organisers, Suleiman and Martin have found themselves slapped with multiple criminal cases. In February 2024, the two men were arrested by police officers and charged with verbally threatening five people who claim ownership to some of the land in dispute. The two men pleaded their innocence. After several abortive attempts to have the complainants testify against them in court, the court discharged them from the charges on Thursday.

The two still face another separate charge of robbery with violence. While it remains to be seen how this second case will play out, the first ruling is a victory for the two men and their community. To the community, the case has seemed as an attempt to use law enforcement and lawsuits to intimidate and penalize human rights defenders for protecting them.

The recent victories of the Kibos and Mukuru kwa Njenga communities bring to mind the Mitu-Bell Welfare Society who successfully sued and sought compensation from the Kenya Airports Authority for the unlawful eviction of 15,000 people near Wilson airport in 2011.

Often long and protracted, the journey toward justice requires resolve and resilience from affected communities, their leaders, and allies. We can draw inspiration from the paraphrasing words of holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, “there may be moments when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we tire of seeking justice.”

This opinion was also published in the Saturday Standard, 4 April 2025.