Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohammed Badi, has denied authorizing evictions in Pumwani and Eastleigh estates, saying NMS officers who participated in the raids did so without his approval.
Badi made the statement when he appeared before the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Committee on Wednesday.
According to Badi, the evictions were enforced by the Nairobi regional security committee supervised by Interior PS Karanja Kibicho.
Badi denied having received court orders enforcing the evictions after it emerged a private developer secured the same.
The developer, Nomad Resort Limited, is reported to have been reallocated the parcels of land at the centre of the dispute by the Nairobi City County but Badi said NMS couldn’t find records of when the transfer was effected.
In one of the evictions conducted in Eastleigh in 2021, staff quarters for Nairobi Water Company, the evictees alleged that the evictions were conducted under the surveillance of NMS and police officers.
“Nomad wrote to NMS requesting us to help in evictions, but we referred nomad to the Nairobi regional security committee as NMS has no such power. A multi-agency committee comprising all government agencies removed the individuals that encroached the parcels of land,” said Badi.
NMS is accused of effecting evictions of its own staff under the water docket to advance the interests of private developers.
Senator Moses Kajwang, who chaired the committee, tasked Badi to explain why they had not appealed the court decision to evict its own staff.
The NMS boss insisted the agency had no powers to enforce the evictions, so they proceeded to hand over the matter to security agencies within Nairobi regional security team.