The eviction of property owners from the East African Portland Cement Land in Athi River, Mavoko Municipality has resulted in many families facing despair.

Moreover, schools, businesses, and churches have been left in a situation where there is little to no prospect of recovery or compensation.

Sunset Boutique, a high-end hotel owned by Charles Wambugu, is among the properties in the affected area that have incurred large losses following its demolition.

The demolition of the hotel and other properties commenced on Saturday morning and continued until Monday. Charles Wambugu claims to have invested over Sh. 30 million in the hotel and its premises.

Charles Wambugu revealed that he acquired the land from Aimi Real Estate agent for approximately Sh. 1.5 million, with each of the three land parcels being purchased for Sh. 500,000.

“We’ve been told the land belongs to Portland Cement. We didn’t know this until they started demolishing our properties. I used over Sh. 30 million to set up this investment,” he spoke to Citizen TV’s Gatete Njoroge.

Government to sell Athi River land on ‘willing buyer-willing seller’ amidst demolitions

“I bought three parcels of land here, each at Sh. 500,000… therefore, it cost me about Sh. 1.5 million to acquire the land,” he added.

Charles Wambugu remains one of the people counting significant losses, alongside other property owners, including those with multi-story apartments and luxurious homes. The forced eviction has affected over 10,000 families in the area.

Many people had saved diligently from their work or taken loans and invested their money in the land. He, however, maintained that he did a thorough land search of the area he bought land.

“I did a follow-up to the lands ministry and ascertained that the documents we were issued were genuine and the land belonged to Aimi,” he stated.