Kenyan Lawyer Says Nairobi Residents With Flooded Houses Built Illegally: "Unfair To Your Families"

• The government has warned Kenyans living on riparian lands and areas prone to floods to vacate to higher and safer grounds
• Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi said that Nairobi residents whose houses had flooded are to blame for their misery
• He accused owners of submerged homes of being unfair to their families by building illegal structures as homes

Michael Ollinga is a journalist at TUKO.co.ke with over 10 years of experience covering courts and crimes, special reports, and current affairs in Kenya.

Kenyan lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has given an unpopular opinion about the flooding situation in Nairobi.

Flood effects in Nairobi

The Kenyan capital has not been spared from the adverse effects of rainfall and raging waters that have swept away homes and killed tens of city residents.

Since the rains began in Easter, several Nairobi residents in slum areas like Mathare and Kibera and leafy suburbs like Runda have been forced to leave their homes.

This is after rainwater marooned their homes and access roads to their residences.

Who is Grand Mullah in Kenya?

On his X account, Abdullahi, also known as the Grand Mullah, did not sympathise with residents who had to vacate their houses after water marooned them.

He instead blamed them for inviting trouble to their doorsteps.

The lawyer argued that most Nairobi residents whose houses had been submerged in water and rendered inhabitable built them illegally.

He observed that the submerged houses were built in riparian spaces, which are reserved for waterways in seasons like these.

"If you had flood water in your bedroom/living room in your house in Nairobi, you built an illegal structure as your home and that isn't fair to your family," Ahmednasir said.

He even blamed those he said had built in areas that should have been reserved for water passages, saying they were unfair to their families.

His sentiments came shortly after CNN reporter Larry Madowo highlighted how flood waters had submerged posh homes in Runda, one of Nairobi's high-end estates.

The lawyer's sentiments corroborate those of Nandi senator Samson Kiprotich Cherargei, who said there were no floods in Nairobi.

According to the legislator, whatever was being described as floods was water reclaiming its rightful space that residents had illegally inhabited.

Cheraregei blamed corrupt government officials and unscrupulous land dealers for collaborating to allow people to build homes on riparian land and in spaces reserved for drainage.

He defended Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja, saying the situation was an accumulation of illegal decisions since independence.

He urged Kenyans to be keen on where they buy land, questioning the loud silence of many real estate companies in the city during the rainy season.

Flood situation in Kenya

• President William Ruto visited those affected by the floods who lost their loved ones in Mathare slums and promised each family KSh 10,000.
• Nakuru county announced it would hold a mass memorial service for over 70 victims who were swept away and killed by water in Mai Mahiu.
• The government announced that the floods and related incidents had led to the deaths of over 200 Kenyans.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke