Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced that residents who were evicted from the Kariobangi North Sewerage settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic will be resettled.

This was after Governor Sakaja met with the leadership of the Kariobangi Sewerage Farmers Self-Help Group at his office on Tuesday, January 16 in City Hall where he announced the move by the county government.

“Today the County Executive Committee of Nairobi has approved their resettlement on the land as promised to them. May justice prevail,” he said. 

8000 people were evicted for settling on government land that was said to have been illegally acquired. The government was seeking to expand the the Kariobangi Waste Sewerage Treatment plant on the said property.

In May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, the residents were forcefully evicted from the land as the government started plans of expanding the plant.

The plant would help offload the burden from the Dandora-Ruai Water Sewerage Treatment plant.

The evictions affected residents at the nearby Korogocho slums when excavators brought down homes, churches, shops and schools.

The evictions happened without a written notice in the official government gazette, 90 days prior in line with the 2009 Evictions and Resettlement Guidelines.

Sakaja, who was then the Nairobi Senator, demanded a ministerial statement over the demolitions and wanted assurance that the rights of residents would not be infringed.

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