As the drive to reclaim grabbed land, public land and even riparian land gets thicker in Nairobi, some crooks have taken advantage of the commotion to annex portions of other people’s land as their own and have been having the audacity to not only erect illegal structures but also start businesses on land they don’t own.
This menace has been particularly rampant in Umoja and its environs as more and more traders, hooligans and cretins have been moving in to illegally occupy areas in Buruburu, Umoja and Komarock after the drive to expand Outering Road, Kangundo Road and other neighboring roads kicked them out of business.
One such man is one Michael Njoroge who, for months now, has been causing real havoc to his neighbor in Umoja 1, thus causing a major neighborliness disaster.
Mr. Njoroge is a rogue trader who has, for the longest time now, become a major headache to one Wilfred Waweru, a landowner, land lord and property owner in Umoja 1.
According to Mr Waweru, Njoroge has become such a menace that he actually feels threatened by the man’s rancid activities.
‘This man has literally converted my own land into his personal space. He parks his vehicle there every night. Every single night. That is my private land. He is encroaching on my property in broad day light. All efforts to get him to move his car, move his stuff from my property have failed. This has gone out of control,’ Mr. Waweru says.
Mr Waweru’s House is strategically located along Moi Drive with a very huge open space that leads to his House that has attracted several people who have on several occasions tried to grab it as well as convert it as their work area to perform their businesses thus depriving tenants that live in Mr Waweru’s rental units parking space.
According to the man’s family, Waweru bought this piece of land in 1978 and has been living there peacefully until hooligans descended on it, attempting to push him out of his own land and grabbing sections of it for their own businesses.
But the worst case is the one involving a Mr Njoroge who has become so hot-headed that he has defied all orders from all Government authorities to vacate from the land.
‘He has incessantly parked his car right on my front yard. Consistently. I have attempted to get him to move it, to get him to park elsewhere and respect my private property but all efforts have hit a snag. Not even the intervention of the Chief or the CID has helped matters’.
One day, after an altercation, Njoroge made verbal threats to Mr Waweru and even alluded to ‘finishing him’ off because he had money.
‘I felt my life was threatened and I actually reported the matter to the CID…’
But still, Njoroge continues to not only park his pick-up vehicle on the said piece of land but run his businesses there too, with utmost impunity.
Undeterred and full of stupid audacity, Njoroge has even severely rallied his team of uncouth boys to gang up against Mr. Waweru, intimidating him with their crude work tools and even making very chauvinistic and obscene remarks to his frightened daughter.
‘Currently in Umoja 1, some residents have no say in regards to this type of businesses, people erect Kiosks next to your house some even have the audacity to convert space between your house and the road as their workshop and even storage for their building & construction equipment. Some in the garbage collection will heap all the rubbish collected at your door step and take days to come and collect them…’ an Umoja 1 dweller says.
‘Even after repeated warnings, Njoroge still parks his pick-up right on my property. Attempts to get him to stop have hit a snag and now, we feel our lives are being threatened. Is this man attempting to grab my land? Why is this man disobeying all orders to vacate my property? From the police to the Chief? Who is this man ? And how safe is my daughter around him?’Waweru wonders.
In February 2001, a Ghanaian living in Kenya was murdered at Woodley Estate for agitating for the rights of the Woodley Estate home owners. Mr Charles Yao Sosah was murdered by people intent on taking over Woodley Estate homes.
And this is the same fear that Mr. Waweru has.
Fear of having his life ended by these strangers who have converted his home into their playground, to run their businesses and park their vehicles there with no fear or regard for the law.
His vehicle is registration number KAE 942G and all Waweru is asking is, that Mr. Njoroge vacates his property, moves his people from his land, stays away from his business and obeys orders from the authorities.
Because things are getting out of hand. And it may get really nasty for Mr. Waweru very soon.