Kenya : vulnerable riverside people evicted

And thousands of people in Kenya are being evicted and their homes demolished following a government order for anyone living near rivers and dams to move to higher ground in the wake of heavy rains and flooding which have been ravaging East Africa for several weeks. The scraps of metal and the logs of wood that you can see behind me are all that remains of what were people’s homes just a few days ago. On Sunday afternoon, government authorities came and demolished 120 structures been speaking to have said they have lost their belongings and they have been spending all afternoon trying to salvage anything they can hopes of being able to sell it in exchange for food for themselves and their families. Government authorities have said that the evictions the demolitions were absolutely necessary because the homes were located next to water reservoir, which in recent weeks has been overflowing because of the heavy rains that Kenya has been experiencing. They started approaching before they reached here. We went and approached them and we told them that we need some time. Kindly give us a time frame of 3030 to one hour so that we can, you know, we can vacate our things. They refuse to do that. I know it is something because of the raging floods and the kind of problems that people are facing almost in all parts of the country, not only in Kibera, but the Manor at which of their situation of their issues have been handled. I think it is quite inhuman. People living here aren’t the only people to have been displaced. Since the beginning of March, at least 212,000 people have been displaced because of the floods. At least 228 people have been killed. Government authorities have warned that the situation could get worse. 178 reservoirs are at risk of overflowing and torrential rain is expected to continue. Kenya isn’t the only country in the region to have been impacted. Nearby countries including Tanzania and Burundi have also been affected, Hundreds of thousands of people there have been displaced and hundreds of people have been killed.