Houses built on social services land in Kilifi demolished

Several houses allegedly built on government land in Kilifi have been brought down.

The houses at the Social services land were brought down by the county government of Kilifi on Thursday morning.

County government enforcement officers and top county officials raided the Kilifi social services land that was allegedly grabbed by former government officials.

According to the county government, demolition notices had been issued to the residents but were not honoured

The demolition started at around 5 am.

Among those affected are Dora Chovu who served as the Kilifi county director of social services and Reuben Ngeti, a former physical planner with the county government of Kilifi.

While witnessing the demolition amid wailing, Chovu said she took a loan of Sh 3 million to put up a retirement home and rental houses on the land.

All were brought down

At one point, Chovu had to be rescued by neighbours when she attempted to get into her house which was being demolished.

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“What do I do now, where do I go after this? This is a big blow to my life,” she said.

The Gideon Mung’aro led administration wants to use the land to build county headquarters.

The governor said the demolition was timely because they issued several notices a long time ago but the occupants failed to honour them.

He said the land belonged to the social services department and had been set aside for the constriction of county headquarters but the land occupants failed to respect the orders to leave.

Mung’aro said the social service land was seven acres but was grabbed and now only 4 acres remaining.

He said those who grabbed the land were not strangers but former government officials who allocated themselves land they knew belonged to the government.

“We are going to demolish everything there because we cannot allow people to grab government land,” he said

He said anyone who built on government land should vacate as they would be brought down