Kongowea residents in Mombasa, are calling on the government to intervene after a private developer allegedly destroyed a section of the storm water system.
The residents now want the construction works at the site adjacent to the community halted immediately.
According to them the construction of an illegally erected perimeter wall has been causing flooding in the area.
‘’We have complained about this issue ever since but nothing has been happening. We are over 20,000 people living in this area that have been affected over the years,” said one of the residents, Khalid Salim.
Salim alleged that the land is a public road reserve that was illegally grabbed and blocked for use by the public.
He further notes that the ongoing works have destroyed the storm water system that has existed since the colonial times and if works continue, it might be blocked completely.
“This storm water system serves the entire Kongowea and adjacent areas of Nyali, taking water to the ocean through the Bahari club,” he said.
Meanwhile, another resident Hamisi Ahmed said that majority of the families have lived in the area since the 60’s.
Ahmed indicated that they received promises before that the issue will be addressed, but to date nothing has happened.
“President William Ruto during his inauguration promised to deal with cartels once he puts down the Bible, we call on him to come here and deal with these cartels putting the lives of Kenyans at risk,” he said.
At the same time Nuru Muhfadh, another resident, said that they had to dig a hole through the wall to allow water get to the chamber of the storm water system.
“This is a water way; how can one be allowed to build on it and block it? When it rains water gets into our houses making toilets flood. We won’t allow this to go on,” she said.
Muhfadh also wants the community to be issued with title deeds saying that they have been following up on the matter since the 80’s to no avail.
