Press Statement: Justice For Flood Victims in Mathare, Mukuru, Dandora and Naivasha

The people of Mathare and other informal settlements (such as Mukuru, Kibera, Kayole, Githurai, Kasarani, and all affected areas) strongly condemn the UDA government for the inhumanity and indignity it has accorded the Kenyan people over the past few months.

Under the guise of saving us from nature, this government has destroyed the livelihoods of millions of Kenyans through illegal demolitions in Mathare, Mukuru, Kariobangi, and other informal settlements, without a proper relocation plan or land allocation for victims.

These acts cannot mask the criminal negligence of the UDA government, which had early warnings about the climate crisis, and its failure to act in time has exposed millions of Kenyans to death traps and hopelessness.

While the government extends the budget ceiling for State House and Parliament, hundreds of people are currently held in camps, schools, churches, and community halls that lack basic amenities for daily use. These are facilities with barely, if any, adequate sanitation facilities, and are currently the sites of cholera outbreaks.

We oppose the attempt of the ruling class and the government of Kenya to impose the ecological crisis burden onto the urban poor and the peasants of Kenya. We are already burdened by the weight of an economy that dehumanises us every day.

We expose the criminal negligence of the UDA government and its partners, who are at the service of the IMF and World Bank institutions, since they collectively violate our basic rights as enshrined by Article 43 of the Kenyan Constitution. This is: the right to decent housing, the right to food, the right to the highest attainable standards of healthcare, and the right to clean and accessible water.

The Ecological Justice Network in Mathare honours all the martyrs who have paid a heavy price for the criminal negligence of our government. It is us who have known these martyrs as they have struggled for food, dignity, employment, adequate housing and the right to life for their children. It is still us who find their bodies after the floods, and try and pick up the pieces of their lives in their death. We will not let their demise be in vain!

In memory of Mama Victor and Jacinta Adhiambo, who were our great social justice advocates and human rights defenders, we will continue on their path of demanding dignity and social justice for all.

We know Kenya will one day be liberated from the corrupt and unaccountable regimes of the UDA government, which brought the face of the hustler but is actually a overseer shepherding us to be slaves.

We the people on this eighth day of May 2024 therefore demand:

1. Quality housing for all
2. Compensation for all the martyrs who died during the floods
3. Life with a dignified environment
4. Education for all
5. Land for all the landless.

A government that cannot provide these basic needs has no right to be in power.

We call upon Kenyans to join us for mass action, starting today in Mathare, until we gain our livelihoods and social justice.

Wanjira Wanjiru
0791334684.
Ecological Justice Network, Mathare.