Families to spend Christmas night in the cold after their houses were demolished in Tharaka Nithi

Four families will spend Christmas night in the cold after the Tharaka Nithi county government on Monday morning demolished the houses they were occupying at Chuka County Referral Hospital.

It is not known how long the families have been occupying the houses, which were originally built by the national government several years ago for hospital staff.

Speaking to the media, Lands and Housing Chief Officer Mbae Karuku and his Medical Services counterpart Karani Riungu said the occupants had been served with notice to vacate on 28 November 2023 and had removed their property by yesterday.

"The deadline to vacate the houses expired yesterday and fortunately all the occupants managed to remove their property," Mr Karuku said.

He noted that the devolved government was in the process of recovering all public property in the hands of private individuals.

Mr Riungu said some of the occupants of the four houses were people who worked at the hospital some years ago and retired but stayed on, while others died some years ago leaving their families there.

He added that some of the houses were rented to members of the public by people who worked at the hospital and retired but continued to earn money as landlords.

"We have demolished the houses that were illegally occupied by some families and we will build a modern car park for the hospital on the land," said Mr Riungu.

During this year's Jamhuri Day celebrations in Chuka town, Governor Muthomi Njuki announced that his government would reclaim all public land owned by individuals throughout the county.