'This did not happen even during Moi's reign!' Raila slams Gov't over Kakamega demolitions

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga has condemned the recent demolition of houses at the posh Milimani estate in Kakamega that left home owners counting losses running into millions of shillings.

Mr. Odinga slammed the Kenya Kwanza government for the action terming it as “animosity and inhumanity.”

He drew a historical parallel between the demolitions by the President William Ruto administration and what happened during the late retired President Daniel arap Moi’s reign, going ahead to describe the former as worse than the latter.

"This is not something that's expected. Even during the darkest days of Moi’s dictatorship, we never witnessed a thing like this here. If you know you are doing the right thing, you come during the day with your papers and show it to residents," Mr. Odinga asserted.

Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, on his part, pointed out that he has been a resident of the demolished land for over two decades and has a five-bedroom property that was flattened at night.

“I have lived here for 22 years of my life, with my wife and children, the kids that were born here are now big men. We did not grab this land, we did not steal this land, we paid for this land,” he said.

The Governor rubbished the governments plan housing plan saying it is illogical to displace people from their land, then build houses and call them “affordable.”

"They are flattening our houses so that we can get into the affordable houses. When will the houses be completed? I know that I can build at a quicker pace than what they are building here. We cannot allow our houses to be flattened so that we can be given houses," Barasa argued.

The opposition leaders unanimously agreed that the land does not belong to the national government and that the demolitions are going on despite a court order to stop them.

“This land belongs to the county, and all who have built here are paying rates to the county government of Kakamega," he asserted.

Former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya further argued that the land has its originality in the municipality and that the national government has no rights to it.

"This land was under the county council until 1988, from then it went to the municipality when Kakamega town was promoted to a municipality. All the farms you see here belong to the municipality, and there's no land belonging to the national government," Oparanya said.

The trio presented a united front, condemning the demolitions and calling on the national government to compensate the people affected.

"We condemn these demolitions in the strongest words possible, and we will go to court on the same. To all those who were affected, we are sorry, and we stand with you in solidarity. The national government must compensate our people,” added Oparanya.