Life slowly returning to normal at Nairobi estate demolished by bulldozers

A bulldozer, a handful police officers and young men clad in orange reflectors stormed Nyama Villa estate in Nairobi’s eastlands area.

Their mission was to ensure that some 600 residential buildings sitting on the 23-acre disputed land lay on the ground, with their bellies. 

The exercise left half of the estate in ruin, with residents who had called the estate home for decades forced to flee. 

Nearly four years since the demolitions, life is slowly returning to the estate, collecting itself from the wounds inflicted by the bulldozers.

Alice Okal who was a resident at the estate at the time of the demolitions lost everything.

“The demolitions happened early in the morning just after I had left the house for work. I rushed back to salvage my belongings after a neighbor phone me with the news that our house was being demolished, she says.

“I left the office on the other side of town in a huff, and by the time I arrived at the estate, the whole house was down. I didn’t find anything valuable as looters made away with my property. I couldn’t recognize my house,” says Ms. Okal.

The demolitions saw one half of the estate completely destroyed, and with it many lives.

Today, a few story buildings are still standing like a mast, with half of their walls gone, and looking like ghost houses.

It is not hard to imagine the level of economic loss the owners of the buildings suffered in the demolitions.

“A few landlords have tried to recover, but many suffered irreparable losses and are yet to stand up,” a caretaker in the estate told Wananchi Reporting.

The land was at the centre of a dispute between Muthithi Investments Limited and residents of the area – a battle that has been fought in court.

After the demolitions in 2018 – the whole estate had no occupants as many had left fearing the bulldozers.

Nearby estates like Umoja, Komarock, Kayole, Pipeline, Donholm and Obama became immediate beneficiaries as evicted tenants sought new dwellings.

Schools too were affected in the demolitions – with parents forced to move their children to other schools.

Today the estate is beaming with life – the memories of the demolitions seem to have been forgotten – at least for the few returning tenants.

“There was an assurance given to the residents that no demolitions will take place again. That is why people are coming back,” a caretaker told Wananchi Reporting.