Anger in Gilgil as police confuse court order, enforce demolition of wrong houses

When the clock struck 2 am on Tuesday in Karunga village, Gilgil, the night was pierced by the roar of engines and crashing walls.

CCTV footage seen by Mtaa Wangu shows a bulldozer tearing through buildings as police officers stand nearby, their flashlights cutting through the darkness.

From the demolitions more than five families in Karunga are counting heavy losses after their homes and businesses were reduced to debris.

Joseph Gitonga, a resident for 17 years, says the demolitions began when a group of unidentified men, accompanied by police officers and a bulldozer descended on the area without warning.

“If my count is right, we had more than 30 men armed with knives, crowbars ready to destroy our property and steal from us. The number of police also come close to the men leading the attack on us and our properties,” Gitonga says.

He says by sun rise, the quiet village had transformed into a landscape of debris. Household items, broken furniture, school uniforms, and foodstuffs lay scattered as stunned residents sifted through the wreckage, trying to salvage whatever they could.

 Gitonga says he watched helplessly as his newly built rental units were destroyed. An act he says has led to him losing property worth more than five million.

  “I woke up to the sound of a bulldozer crushing my rentals just a few meters from my house. They broke my gate, brought down the fence, and even partially destroyed my main house. I bought this land legally, have a title deed, and yet everything was flattened,” he laments.

 He further states that the demolition team used a court order meant for a different parcel, Block 4 while his property sits in Block 9, revealing that the demolition happened in the wrong parcels of land.

Another resident, Steven Thiru, says at least four people were injured when they tried to question the operation.

 “We were not even allowed to question anything. The police just watched as our houses went down. My poultry and pig structures, my main source of income, were also destroyed,” he says, adding that they have no one to trust and turn to if police supervised the destruction of their property without sharing with them a court order notice.

 For 70-year-old Mary Wamuchie, the night remains full of terrifying flashbacks. She notes the stones almost fell on her while she was in bed.

 “My son woke me up shouting that they were demolishing houses. Before I could move, stones started falling on my bedroom, where my grandchildren were sleeping. It’s a miracle they escaped. Now we sleep in the cold. I have nowhere else to go nor food to eat,” she says.

 James Kang’ethe, another resident, was stabbed twice in the leg while trying to stop the attackers from robbing him and was only rushed to hospital by well-wishers.

 “I bought this land 13 years ago, and President William Ruto even launched the last mile electricity project here. How can they now claim it’s not our land?” he questions.

Their lawyer, Antony Mukira, said the land in question is under two ongoing cases; one before a tribunal and another at the Court of Appeal.

In the ELC case, Teleposta had sued the residents wanting to evict them previously in that piece of land, where judgment was ruled in favor of Teleposta, where they filed an appeal and obtained a stay order pending the hearing and determination of the case.

 “There is a valid stay order covering Block 9, meaning no demolitions should have happened. We are waiting for the case to be heard at the court of appeal, it may take some time but we are hoping that we will be enlisted for hearing,” Mukira says.

 When reached for a comment, Gilgil Sub-County Police Commander Winston Mwakio declined to comment on the matter.