It is an exercise that has gripped the nation. The green excavator is a celebrity in its own right. Sany, as it is now called, has more photos on Facebook than a Kenyan socialite. Today, the first thing social media users want to know in the morning is where it is headed. Welcome to Kenya’s latest soap opera, the ‘Bomoa Bomoa Edition’.
It is evident that the ongoing demolition exercise is not stopping soon. Investors in real estate are already counting the loss of assets worth billions of shillings, with more houses set for demolition in the next two months.
The institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) chairman Abraham Samoei estimates the cost of structures to be brought down at Sh40 billion.
On Monday morning about 4000 small scale businesspersons and squatters at Ziman settlement scheme in Githurai 45 lost about 1o million on early morning demolition.
This prompted angry youth to demonstrate and block Thika Superhighway for about an hour before police dispersed them.
This scuffle caused heavy traffic along the busy highway that stretched over several kilometers before normalcy was later restored.
According to one of the scheme’s leaders Michael Karanja, they had no prior notice of demolition.
He accused Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua of contempt of court for spearheading the demolition despite the society having a court order stopping any such action.
According to the Nairobi Regeneration team, more than 5, 000 structures and approximately 4,000 buildings and facilities across the city will be demolished in the exercise.
According to Sonko, in spite of the fact that some of the affected buildings are commercial centers providing employment to hundreds of Kenyans, those that are conducting business in these locations are advised to re-establish their businesses elsewhere.