Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has firmly defended his administration’s crackdown and eviction of tenants residing in county-owned housing estates, stating that political popularity will not compromise fiscal responsibility and public service delivery.
Speaking on the city’s aggressive revenue-collection measures, Governor Sakaja emphasized that decades of uncollected rent have deprived the county government of billions of shillings needed to upgrade public services and infrastructure.
Addressing the ongoing crackdown against long-term defaulters in public housing estates, the governor highlighted severe revenue leakages. In key estates such as Woodley, Old Ngara, and Lumumba, several households have accrued years of unpaid rent despite rates remaining drastically lower than market value.
The county revealed individual cases where tenants failed to pay monthly rents as low as KSh 11,000 to KSh 17,600 for over a decade. Single defaulters in prime locations were found to owe between KSh 1.7 million and KSh 1.8 million in uncollected dues.
Governor Sakaja questioned why tenants occupying prime city properties—some spanning half-acre parcels—refuse to pay nominal rents while surrounding private properties command well over KSh 150,000 monthly.
Persistent uncollected revenue from public estates remains a major recurring audit query for City Hall.
“For everyone in our county houses who is not paying rent, you will be evicted. These houses don’t belong to me — they belong to the people of Nairobi,” Sakaja asserted. “If you fail to pay nominal rates in an area where the minimum market rent is vastly higher, what are we expected to do? Leadership requires tough decisions over populism.”
The governor also addressed forced relocations tied to major infrastructure drives, including urban regeneration projects and safety clearances along riverbanks.
In redevelopment zones like Woodley Estate, Sakaja reiterated that affected families received a KSh 900,000 relocation stipend (covering 36 months of rent) alongside allotment letters guaranteeing them completion-phase ownership.
Appearing before parliamentary committees regarding disputed evictions in Old Ngara Estate, Sakaja pledged to reconcile tenant accounts and investigate claims of rogue county staff attempting to repossess property unlawfully.
The governor maintained that clearing settlements along Nairobi River buffer zones is critical to preventing loss of life from severe flooding, citing historical urban planning risks dating back over a century.
City Hall has opened dedicated verification desks for affected tenants to reconcile payment accounts, but Sakaja reiterated that non-compliant defaulters and illegal occupants will continue to face eviction.
