Mombasa County Government is on the spot for failing to allocate houses to former tenants of Buxton Estate after they were evicted to pave the way for construction of new units.

The Senate had resolved that the county government should allocate the tenants houses.

The Roads, Transport and Housing committee had in November 2023 directed Mombasa County Government to allocate its share of 184 housing units in Phase One to the former tenants of Buxton.

Another recommendation was that the State Department of Housing and the county government must develop a clear mechanism for the remaining 336 tenants to acquire units through the Tenant Purchase Scheme.

Appearing before the Senate’s Roads and Housing Committee chaired by Migori Senator Eddy Oketch, Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir was hard-pressed to explain why his administration has not allocated the new units to the former tenants.

Nominated Senator Miraj Abdillahi, one of the former tenants, told the committee that the residents who agreed to vacate the land are suffering yet the developer has finished construction but is yet to release the units as agreed.

“I am an aggrieved former tenant of Buxton Estate. The agreement was that we would be allocated new houses and we would pay through a rent-to-own agreement. What has transpired is the opposite,” said Miraj.

Abdulswamad told the committee his administration was yet to receive a single unit as the developer is currently implementing Phase II of the project.

“We were supposed to receive our units at the end of the second phase.”