Nathan Ndegwa Muraguri, a retired civil servant, is one of hundreds of people displaced from their homes in Nairobi's Kibera slums. Life for Muraguri has gone from abundance to abject need; before the country's political crisis, he lived in his own house in the Soweto area of Kibera with rooms to let out. Now all he has is a mattress and a few belongings that he has to share with his wife and seven children at the Kibera District Officer's compound.
Muraguri's family and 68 others were initially camped at the nearby Jamhuri Showground where the government had set up a site for internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, the government recently closed the camp, leaving hundreds of families stranded. IRIN spoke to Muraguri:
"I used to make furniture; I had 15 goats in my compound; I had a licensed water kiosk and lived, together with my family, in a house I had built. But the violence that broke out soon after the announcement of the election results forced me to flee my home on 29 December. I headed towards the Ngong forest and ended up at the Rowland camp [for scouts]. There I managed to get a phone and I called my wife and children, telling them to make their way to the Jamhuri Showground. I spent the night in a toilet in the nearby nature trail.
"Since then my life has been one of great difficulty. I stayed at the Jamhuri camp until some weeks ago when the government decided to close it. We were about 300 families at the showground with nowhere to go. The Kibera district officer came to the camp with a lorry and brought us to this place.
"I have not been able to go back to my house because some thugs have now taken over; they are selling the water and charging people for using electricity, for which I know I will have to pay as they are in my name. The handcart I had was used to ferry stolen goods during the violence. Some of these thugs even vandalised my home; they took away my furniture-making tools.
"Right now, my family and I sleep here in this veranda, fighting the cold and the mosquitoes that have made our nights a nightmare.
"All I can say is I am a very disappointed person; I don't even consider myself a Kenyan any more, I am just myself. I am not looking forward to any help because we are supposed to be protected by the law but the law has been used selectively. Why can't they [the police] throw out the people who are occupying my house even after I reported to them and got a police abstract to prove my case?
"For me, I think the worst has already happened, I have not lost hope of living. I will continue living whether others like it or not; because I was born here, I have a right to be here. All I want is to be able to go back to my house."
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
