• Residents of Mukuru kwa Njenga in Nairobi disrupted a community meeting after officials from the Affordable Housing Board failed to address their concerns
  • Some residents claim they began making deposits as far back as 2024 yet have not received keys or any clarity on the status of their units
  • Officials and the board's CEO left the meeting before it concluded, leaving dozens of residents without the answers they had turned up to get

Dozens of residents from Mukuru kwa Njenga in Nairobi brought a government-organised community meeting to an abrupt halt on Tuesday after Affordable Housing Board officials were unable to explain why hundreds of families are still waiting for homes they have been paying for since 2024.

The gathering, held at the Imara Daima Chief's Camp, was intended to give residents a platform to raise their concerns directly with officials managing the housing programme. Instead, it descended into a confrontation as attendees pressed for concrete answers about the ownership status of units they say they have already paid for.

Residents Say They Have Been Paying Since 2024

Several residents told reporters they made their first deposits in 2024, expecting that a first-come-first-served system would guarantee them priority access to the units. One resident said she had queued for hours, been photographed and registered, and was handed a lengthy symbol number, yet had received nothing but a bag of rice since December.

"From December up to now, that voucher you gave us only got us rice. I am just asking: where did that voucher go? Or was it a joke?" she said.

Others raised more pointed questions about where their money was going. Residents alleged that private investors had entered the project and turned it into a commercial venture, leaving the intended low-income beneficiaries of Mukuru to suffer. "We want to know who is behind Affordable Housing, whose pocket is this money going into?" one resident demanded.

Officials Leave Before Meeting Ends

Four days before the Tuesday meeting, residents had reportedly submitted a formal petition to the Deputy Commissioner's office in Embakasi South, making the gathering a critical opportunity for face-to-face dialogue. That opportunity was lost when officials from the board, including the CEO, left the venue before the session was due to close.

"We came here expecting the CEO and the board to address us. The PCC for Embakasi threatened us, telling us to leave or face consequences. When they saw we were standing our ground, they left us," one resident said.

Those who remained were left seeking answers to three core questions: the whereabouts of units they had already paid for, whether the funds they had contributed were still ring-fenced for their benefit, and whether they would receive alternative units if their original allocations had been sold to other buyers.

The incident has shone a harsh light on the government's Affordable Housing programme, which was designed to give low-income earners access to decent shelter, but which critics say is increasingly failing the very communities it was built to serve.

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