Forced Evictions in Kenya
This episode explores the legal, social, and political dimensions of forced evictions in Kenya with Pauline Vata. She is a seasoned human rights lawyer with expertise in land, housing, and natural resource governance issues, positively influencing public policy in formulating laws that safeguard rights to housing and land.
The discussion starts with the legal instruments that the government can rely on to understand the procedures they should follow when carrying out evictions, they then proceed to discuss one of the most significant court cases that has emerged from the forced evictions, the Mitu-Bell case, in which the residents of informal settlements known as Mitumba village next to Wilson Airport were uprooted from their habitation by the government, on grounds that their settlements lay on the flight path to Wilson Airport, thus posing danger to the security of the public and air travelers by depositing unregulated garbage that would then attract birds which could bring down aircrafts.
They also look at the task force formed to come up with laws to protect people living in informal settlements, some of the solutions to forced evictions, and why even after the Mitu-Bell case, we still have some evictions that don't follow the legal requirements.
This episode was produced by Kamau Wairuri. Sound editing by Hope Nabalayo and the cover art designed by Mutugi Njeru.
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Articles by Pauline Vata:
Hakijamii Executive Director Ms. Pauline Vata sheds light on the World Habitat Day
Young woman’s quest for land justice among the marginalized - The Nation
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