When “Affordable Housing” becomes a cover for public land grab: The case of Watamu Affordable Housing Project
by admin on | 2026-01-08 08:53:22 Last Updated by admin on 2026-01-09 11:15:53
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On Saturday, 20th December 2025, irreversible works began inside Watamu Public Park before the locals could secure court orders, with fencing erected and mature trees cut within one of the town’s few remaining public green spaces. In the days that followed, residents woke up to fenced-off sections, the completion of tree cutting and preparations for construction within the park. The project has been presented as part of the government’s “affordable housing” agenda. Across the country, “affordable housing” has become a buzz word often invoked to justify the quiet transfer of public land. What is happening in Watamu extends beyond the loss of a public park. At stake is not only a park in Watamu but a central constitutional question concerning how public land is governed and protected. Kilifi County carries a long and unresolved history of land injustices. For decades, communities have lived with tenure insecurity, missing land records and weak dispute resolution. These realities are the product of longstanding governance failure. A 2017 investigation by the Commission on Administrative Justice into land administration in Kilifi documented chronic dereliction of duty, poor records management, abuse of office, and chronic unresponsiveness within the Ministry of Lands. The cost of these failures has not been borne in files and forms alone. Land injustices in Kilifi have impoverished communities and it has taken lives. Most alarmingly, senior citizens are paying with their lives for the state’s failure to resolve land and inheritance disputes. The 2023 Aged on Edge report1 by Haki Yetu documented how many of these killings are linked to land and inheritance disputes, often falsely labeled as witchcraft accusations. The report situates longstanding failures of land governance, weak dispute resolution mechanisms and the absence of effective state protection as a key driver of these killings. In light of these realities, the decision to pursue “affordable housing” by converting a public park in Watamu invites scrutiny of leadership priorities and decision-making. Evidence shows that these injustices are also compounded by contemporary land conflicts that continue to undermine social and read more...
