Rent paid, but still under threat of eviction....

I got myself an Equity Banker's Cheque No. 37155 dated 13th March 2009, to pay my rent to our Mombasa Municipal Council from April to July 2009. I gave this cheque in good faith to a lady who offered to help me out since I have mobility problems and our Council harasses it's tenants by having them go all over the place in the name of helping them balance their ledger books! It is not enough that one pays them.

Even before them accepting payment, and though they claim to be computerized, they want us to go all over the Council various offices to get their act and records together. We first have to fill in a form after we've shown them our last payment receipt. Then, after filling it and it being stamped, one goes to the cashier to pay. Then, from there, we have to go to another place where they again make a note (in their ledger books!), to confirm that you've paid. Don't they trust their own employees?

Failure to do this, and despite having paid, will result in them sending you 7 day eviction notices which then result in you being forced to do all that they want.

Therefore, they are not serving us, but themselves, in this case, in getting their so-called records straight. If this horrible council is supposed to be computerized, why can't they keep their records up to date without harassing their tenants? One gets the feeling that they use their computers like typewriters rather than getting them (computers), to do a multitude of tasks for them in keeping their records straight.

Why do tenants have to pay with their time and money for this useless and unaccountable Council's incompetence?

Now, to come back to my latest misadventures with the Council.... This woman who took up the task of paying the cheque disappeared from the face of the earth with my receipts, too. And, since I couldn't locate her to be able to get back my receipts to date, till this afternoon, I had nothing to show the Council that I'd paid till July! And since this nasty Council which doesn't keep it's records straight, claims that my latest eviction notice of 7 days (served yesterday afternoon), stands if I don't pay up!

Now, can somebody out there please, explain why a tenant should be victimized for the incompetence of the landlord. Worldwide, it is the landlord's duty to balance the ledger books, etc., and the tenant's duty is to pay the rent on time. But, it seems not to be the case here. Here, the Council instead of serving the public, turns the tables on them and demands and coerces this same public and it's tenants into submission to their weird bureaucracy.

And what is my situation where I've now got the receipt (No.111223972), to show that I'm paid up till July 2009, but, have still been served with a 7 day eviction notice which the Council claims (despite having been given the date that this payment was made on the 27th of March), holds, since this amount is not recorded in their so-called 'books'. Is that the tenant's fault? How long is the long suffering public to put up with this nasty and intimidating Council? Are they still going to evict me comes the end of the 7 days? And would that be lawful? For that matter, do we even have a law to speak of or justice? Or the law of the jungle prevails?

Why is the Mombasa Municipal Council so AWFUL and it's employees without common sense? Can the Ministry of Local Government please, do a complete overhaul of this den of incompetents, including their brains, of course! Btw, we're also required to retain these receipts for future reference when required. For how long into the future, and required for what? May we know? Till death or a move, do us part from this nasty Council? Which could take decades or a whole lifetime. So, are we supposed to continue collecting and storing these receipts ad infinitum?

Noise in the name of functions and religion - 38th reminder to NEMA and others concerned....

Imagine a world where there is incessant noise of some kind of another all day long and even part of the night, add to this various kinds of air pollution and the people responsible for all these atrocities as well as the supposed law upholders, all being utterly insolent and unfeeling when told to do something about it.

This is what I and all of my neighbourhood have to put up with every single day and most weekend nights, too.

As enumerated umpteen times previously, there are the daily religious rackets made my the neighbourhood mosque and church or rather the outfit that hires the MWA Hall every workday lunch times. Then, of late (and this is also off and on various times in a year!), one of the questionably acquired plots within the estate and 'developed' into a multistorey block of flats, by a private 'developer', keeps on digging a borehole every few months despite having tried this countless times since he 'developed' this plot in 1995!

Despite, not having been successful, he still insists of digging another one around the same area where he had earlier been unsuccessful. And the irony is that there is a borehole dug using CDF money within meters of where this new one is being dug. So, everyday starting from early morning till late in the evening including weekends, there is the noise from this machine doing the digging. Not to mention that both these boreholes are near the septic tank.

There is also the trucks that arrive here in plenty bringing building materials for the 'road' that our Council has decided to make for us. It does not matter that the cause of the messed up earlier road still exists. The infamous truck, tractor, junk yard and garage that belongs to Nisha Printers/Shimanzi Enterprises has been responsible for the degradation of the road thanks to their monsters coming and going through the estate. These people are breaking every imaginable traffic, environmental and Municipal by-laws by being allowed to still exist there. There is also another block of flats next to this truck park and which is all part of a road reserve, but our lawless and corrupt Council allocated this to Nisha Printers in the mid-1990s.

So, while our Council is, as usual, trying to make a so-called road (which is so narrow that only one car at a time can pass), they have not deemed it fit to first deal with the cause of the damaged road in the first place and it will be business as usual as soon as this road is 'made'. The Council also couldn't care less for the residents' inconveniences
while they are building this 'road'. Their trucks just dump sand, stones, etc., any place they like with no thought given to accessibility for the residents and their cars, if any.

Then, over weekends starting Friday nights, people hire the MWA Hall for their private functions and these are ALWAYS very loud and terrible. The only people who might be enjoying this racket are probably the attendees. Definitely NOT, the neighbourhood which also includes two hospitals. One right next door to this hall, the Aga Khan Hospital and a little bit further but within hearing distance; Pandya Memorial.

Calling the police is an exercise in futility because, they will give you the following replies, IF they answer the phone.....!

1. As soon as they hear the word noise, they hang up!

2. Or, the officer answering will give you the impression that they are sending somebody out there in minutes and even if you wait half an hour there will be no reduction in the decibels.

This, of course, will cause you to ring them, again... which results in the following....

3. Please, have patience, they are coming.... or

4. They have a permit and therefore according to these moronic cops they translate this into being allowed to make noise. NOT, that the permit is to hold the function and not make noise that will disturb the entire residential area!

5. We are back to the bad old days of cops telling us that they don't have vehicles and therefore they are coming walking. Now, regarding this, it does not take a couple of fit cops to walk the distance from Central Police to the MWA Hall hours on end. This distance can be covered is less than half an hour! Yet, these cops want us to believe that it takes them longer.

Is it because they are waiting for the 'natural' time of the end of the function which is till nearly midnight?

Also, I don't exactly know who is the moron out there who gives these permits to allow noisy functions to be held in the middle of residential areas and next to hospitals with complete impunity. But, he/she, seems to care less (typical of our 'officialdom' of late!), about the effects of sleeplessness and noise on the human psyche.

There is also nobody at the hall to regulate the level of noise, either, therefore the merry makers set up huge speakers near open doors and at decibel levels which can damage the ears. These women (they are mostly Arab and Waswahili), who seem to enjoy this racket and who go to such functions to supposedly celebrate one of their compatriot's wedding.

Last Friday and last night were cases in point. The cops when called including OCS Njeru, couldn't be bothered to respond and either kept hanging up their phones or trying to make me believe that they were sending officers over when no such thing ever happened and these horrors continued their racket till well after 11.00 pm!

This is another point where our law and justice is just a name! There are no such things in operation in this country any longer. We, the public, who are supposed to have 'elected' these 'officials' into office are least interested in serving us. The only thing they are interested in is the hefty pay-check at the end of every month for which they are also refusing to pay a tax like every citizen. We truly have the most useless, bloated and ineffective government, ever!!!!

And when will this impunity ever end....? And law, order and justice prevail?

Charcoal selling and goat keeping is not enough. Now, it's calves, too!

Since day before yesterday in the afternoon these two calves havesuddenly appeared in this estate.

The person responsible is, I suspect, the same who had been keeping
the goats about 2 years ago and who was responsible for smashing my
car up as well as whose mother tried pushing me down the stairs in
broad daylight in front of 3 eye-witnesses about 6 months after
goat/car smashing incident.

This person is into everything questionable. He deals in charcoal
selling, livestock keeping and all this happens right under the eyes
of the Council employees who live in the staff flats within this
estate.

One gets the impression that he's getting support from them for all of
this illegal activities. Remember, we have a Councillor (Kushe), and
an MP (Joho), who live here. This charcoal/livestock dealer seems to
be protected from any law enforcers by these two politicians, for not
only, them, but their entire families and friends come out in large
numbers whenever the 'law' makes an appearance to deal with the
situation. And since I'm the only 'spanner in their works
(activities)', they (the neighbourhood), immediately after, try to
harm me.

Our cops and others also don't take me seriously when I call them for
help. Why should they behave this way? Aren't they supposed to protect
the public? Or is it just the high and mighty in the form of
questionable politicians?

This country is going from bad to worse with no law and/or justice, anymore.

Re: NO WATER

Yes, this is a good letter and it is also typical of 'water officialdom' to charge for things that they had no hand in 'developing', i.e., the wells and boreholes all over town.

And as it mentions these were purportedly 'approved' by their own 'officials', so why the objection? And why should the people who got these dug pay further charges when these same, starting from the Ministry down to their many companies and boards they have given 'birth' to?

This is typical of this very unjust government and it's bloated cabinet. They have abdicated their duty to provide us with a basic human right and are further doing the same by charging us for water which they had no hand in providing.

Raziya

Chris Dickenson wrote on 18-Apr-09 3:23 PM:

I thought this was a good letter. BUT....... There has to be a way to say to the Water Authority.

"You have a duty to supply us with clean fresh drinking water and you have failed to do so year after year after year. Mombasa Island Residents know why there is no water. It is because it has all leaked into the ground due to the miles of broken underground delivery pipes all around the Island. Broken underground pipes equals no water. The reason why you want to charge us a 'borehole fee' is because that is the only way residents can get access to what is our God given right. The problem is yours so fix it"

WOES OF WATER SUPPLY IN MOMBASA AND ENVIRONS

Water Day being celebrated worldwide this month Water is life to all living things: That is why Water Day is being celebrated worldwide this month.

And indeed as contained in our Bill of Rights, the citizens and / or wananchi have a right to clean water for their daily use Mombasa city and environs have not received regular and adequate water for some time.

At times taps run dry for weeks and weeks. But luckily and maybe for only short while, our main sources of water, Mzima Springs, Marere and Sabaki rivers have not dried up at any one moment. The shortage of water is due to poor infrastructure said to be obsolete which should have been replaced 50 years ago. Residents blame the town water company for the water crisis, as residents are forced to buy water from hawkers at exorbitant prices. In fact Mombasa Water Company has raised its tariffs but has failed in its duty to provide adequate water to residents. Recently, a Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company official, a Mr. Barack Otieno denied such claims, this is ridiculous as the problem has persisted and many reports to deal with the situation gather dust on shelves due to laxity in terms of implementation and lack of seriousness in addressing the interest of the residents of MOMBASA.

As a result of this persistent problem of lack of water, which has prevailed for a long time, stakeholders and residents of Mombasa and environs have reluctantly turned to boreholes and wells for water inspite of it being costly and unwholesome for human consumption. It is however noted with some degree of appreciation that World Bank and Coast Water Services Board are working together to address this perennial problem but the process, will no doubt, take time before funds are made available for work to commence.

Water problem has however taken another grave dimension. Water Resources Management Authority, the custodian of water in the country, require that existing boreholes and wells be legalized at a cost and monthly water extraction charges be paid to the Authority. The Authority does not seem to take note that its parent Ministry through District Water Officers had approved sinking of these boreholes and that the boreholes had been sunk by Authorized and Licensed Water drilling companies. To make matters worse the Director of Water, on whose behalf sinking of boreholes and wells had been authorized, has joined the fray insisting that legalization of boreholes and wells be done and requisite fee and monthly extraction charge be paid.

The Director of Water has quoted Provisions of Water Act 2002 to justify his assertion and warnings. This requirement does not give comfort to stakeholders who have been denied their basic human right of water. The least public would have expected from the Director of Water to do is to call for critical up to date analysis of water supply situation in Mombasa and environs before making his bewildering decision.

From the analysis the Director of Water would have learnt that water charges have recently been increased and that no water is flowing in our taps and that boreholes are not ideal sources of water for human consumption but since the agents mandated to provide water have failed, the stakeholders have no alternative but to sink boreholes and well for their survival. The Ministry for Water and Irrigation had previously issued instructions for all boreholes and wells in Mji wa Kale, to be sealed off because water from these sources was allegedly contaminated but the residents insisted that they would seal off their boreholes and wells only if they were supplied with adequate and wholesome water. The position has not changed.

The Water Resource Management Authority should seriously consider sensitizing stakeholders on its work. It should also give owners of existing boreholes and wells time to seal off, if they so wish or comply with the Provisions of the Water Act 2002.

Boreholes and water wells owners must not be made to suffer for omission and commission of others.

Lastly, unreliable water supply and scarcity and low satisfaction by customers with their interaction with existing water service providers and regulatory authorities which form the basis of the problem should be very well addressed. Citizens and in particular residents of Mombasa require increased access to water and its facilities thereof and improved maintenance of the same.

We must be serious with governance and management of natural resources like water which is so close to the people.

Z. K. Nderu
chairman Environment Trust of Kenya,Mombasa.
nderu@lotushotelkenya.com

Emailing: The guy using intimidation and threats on me so I would remove my car, Standing around waiting for orders...., My car is usually parked where the man in the foreground is standing alone, but the ditch and the stone mounds do not make this possib

I took the attached pictures this morning to show the person who had been using threatening and intimidating language at the behest of Councillor Kushe, yesterday, i.e. only that photo was taken yesterday. The remainder were taken this morning.

The whole Council gang that was doing the digging are nowhere to be seen and it seems like they have left the place full of ditches and piles of stone, etc., all over the estate with little thought or consideration for the residents, except themselves. I mean our two resident politicians, MP Joho and Councillor Kushe. They are about the only ones who will not get inconvenienced over this long weekend.

And as is our politicians' wont, who are highly selfish and self centered, they are comfortable so why give other's discomforts and inconveniences a second thought!

I have been trying frantically through many friends and acquaintances to get hold of our redoubtable Town Clerk, to no avail. It would seem that he's been in never ending meetings the whole day..... or is it because he is in the know about what is going on in this particular Council estate and has been deliberately playing hard to get? There seems to be no end to these people in officialdom's insolence.

Did somebody say that they are the 'servants' of the people? Perish the thought. They are anything but that. In fact, in their imagination, they are the people in power and therefore ride roughshod on the people. That is probably why our Town Clerk keeps his mobile phone number/s very, very private!

So, this weekend I, for one, will be a virtual prisoner in my own home since I cannot bring my car here and because, I am disabled, can't walk over the stones and ditches to the place where I have left the car. Have these politicians including the town planners, if they were even consulted, given a thought to this aspect of their own Council estate? That everybody living there is not fit and to some a car is not a luxury but a necessity.

Raziya


The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
The guy using intimidation and threats on me so I would remove my car
Standing around waiting for orders....
My car is usually parked where the man in the foreground is standing alone, but the ditch and the stone mounds do not make this possible
Digging up the 'road' some more
The contentious truck park has a easy access while the resident's suffer
MP Joho's (peach coloured on the left), palatial place too, has ample room for his cars to turn and manipulate, but not the rest of the estate.

Emailing: The Mombasa Municipal Council's lastest project....!, Digging up for a so-called road and inconveniencing the residents, MP Joho's palatial residence on the left where there's is ample space for his numerous cars to come and go, but, for the res

Since Independence or rather before, when this estate was built, the roads within it have never been maintained or paved. Now, suddenly our Council has decided to do so and are greatly inconveniencing the neighbourhood in the process. They have neither common courtesy nor are they aware of the law to have informed us that this is what they are planning on doing and what we should or should not do or how it will restrict our movements.

And is all this being done for the convenience of the two questionable politicians living in our midst who seem to be under the impression that they can ride roughshod over other residents? Why is the track only wide enough for one car at a time to pass? Which town planner has dreamt this up?

This morning, I was literally harassed and threatened by these so-called Council workers including the Councillor, Kushe, that if I did not remove my car forthwith, they would get a tow truck and remove it forcibly. It had no effect on them when I told them that I'm disabled and cannot go up and down staircases (I live on the 2nd floor), at their whim and would remove the car as soon as I was ready to go out which was going to be in another hour or two. So, while I was getting ready to leave, these Council thugs persistently kept setting off my car alarm over and over again. Why? Couldn't they have followed the law and common courtesy of informing the residents that such an activity was going to take place and we should co-operate with them in this exercise? But, no. Our semi- and illiterate Council employees and Councillors, are under the impression that they are God's gift to everybody and are beholden to them and should be at their beck and call. If these are the kinds of 'servants' of the people who have been elected, then, only God can help this country.

This evening, when I got back home at about 5.45 pm, the whole place has been dug up with no place for me to park! The whole estate is full of ditches and stones and highly dangerous for a disabled person like me to negotiate. Since, there is no place to park anymore, I had to literally reverse (there's no place to turn the car, either), and go to a friend's place who lives about a block away and request her to let me park my car in her compound. This she did and her husband was also good enough to drive me back since I cannot negotiate walking over all those sharp stones and ditches without falling. As it is, I had a very bad fall this afternoon where I missed a few steps and have hurt my head, neck and legs.

My neighbours, including the MP, Joho and Councillor Kushe, all know of my many disabilities, yet, they have done nothing but derived warped pleasure at my predicament. So, for now, I cannot leave my house till some kind of order is restored to this estate.

And while they are building a so-called road/lane, what is the Council (officialdom), doing about the contentious truck/tractor and junk yard whose monstrosities when driven out, will, again reduce this supposed 'road' to smithereens as the previous one was?

Is it possible for this awful and lawless country's supposed 'leaders', to ever think about the consequences of their thoughtless actions?

Raziya

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
The Mombasa Municipal Council's latest project....!
Digging up for a so-called road and inconveniencing the residents
MP Joho's palatial residence on the left where there's is ample space for his numerous cars to come and go, but, for the rest of the residents there's just a one car track
The digging has gone right up to the contentious truck park
Two parallel ropes laid out near my car and the workers and their supervisor are threatening to have my car towed away.

Re: WATER WATER EVERYWHERE BUT THE PIPES ARE ROTTEN & The 193rd reminder.... to the PERSON/S CONCERNED - Burst sewage pipe... and the Council, continues..... (4th)

Welcome to the frustrating world of trying to get clean, consistent

and fresh water. You have all my sympathies and currently it's the
Coast Water (Dis)Services Board who is solely to blame for this sorry
state of affairs since they are the ones laying the infrastructure and
maintaining it, but, don't do their work! They are some of the most
useless bunch of 'employees' that our govt. and in particular the
Water and Irrigation Ministry have dreamt up in recent times.

The misadventures you've been having with regards to your pipes is a
common story all over this town. There are also illegal connections
(with the help of the water dept.), made by questionable structures
that have been allowed by our redoubtable Council in the form of
grabbed plots and allocating road reserves to their henchmen. This
further complicates matters.

RE the bore holes all over - the CWSB is supposed to regulate these,
but, doesn't. Even when they are informed of any being dug. Ask me and
what I went through when my crooked neighbours dug that well. In the
end, this was and is still allowed to exist despite many controversial
issues concerning that water. They don't even have a proper cover over
it. What they have so-called covered it with, is a grill cover through
which anything can fall into the water, short of a human!

Then, they have used CDF money to dig a bore hole within stone
throwing distance of this well and other bore holes in the estate,
which is also near a septic tank. How safe is this water which the
whole neighbourhood uses? And where is the environment department of
the Council as well as NEMA while all this is going on? I personally
went to NEMA and the CWSB and even wrote to them, called them, etc.,
when it started happening, but, it got me nowhere and instead was
threatened and intimidated by my neighbours for trying to put a stop
to their activities all in the name of 'development'!!!

So, now, I've reached the very difficult conclusion that none of our
'officialdom' and so-called countless and useless govt. department,
are capable and ethical enough to take any action and all our attempts
to stop something questionable going on will be met with hoots of
laughter, threats and intimidation while nothing will be done to
correct anything.

What they actually do, like they did in your case is all short term
fixes which will not last even for our lifetime, if they even do that.
And it's mostly all window dressing to show us that they are working.
Nothing could be further away from the truth, unfortunately.

As an example - have you noticed that street lights stay on day and
night till they 'die'? Nobody at the Council (which is the one
in-charge of street lighting), is bothered about turning them off at
break of day. And who is footing the bill? We are! So, why should they
care. They don't even think about it being a total waste of energy and
money and by extension it's environmentally unfriendly. I wonder if
they are even aware of the carbon footprint/s they leave since most of
our Council is semi and/or illiterate and wouldn't even understand the
term, I think. They don't have a reading culture, either to educate
themselves.

Btw, you had better keep an eye on your water meter and make notes of
your own so that you can compare with the one you get every month in
the bill, since most of the time, it will arrive with an estimated
reading and at some point in the near or far future you'll probably
need your own readings to make a point with them regarding payment.
You'd better do this very diligently with dates, etc., too.

Salaams,
Raziya

Protecting & Indemnity Kenya Ltd. wrote at 9:25 AM:

Dear Raziya.

Yesterday, 2/4/2009, I decided to take the bull by the horns and barged into the Water Department Offices demanding to see their engineers and supervisors about the shortage of water we have experienced in our area over the last 12 months or more. The discovery was fascinating.

The Water Department staff could not find drawings of the pipelines that deliver water into the area, as most of the staff are young, from up country and have no connection with the past history of Mombasa. They were all well versed in their trade, and were sympathetic of the suffering of wananchi, but they have no power to correct the mistakes of their department, like all civil servants who cannot correct government mistakes.

For over 12 months, I have been buying bore hole water to fill my domestic tanks, but the Water Department insisted in charging me KSh700/- per month for the imaginary 10 cubic metres of water which we never receive. Every time I talk to the Water Department staff who occassionally pass by to see and read the dormant water meter, whose reading never changes from month to month, they insist that the water is there but it is my fault for not receiving it. So, yesterday I decided to correct the fault on my side of the water pipe line, and after obtaining their verbal consent and their staff to supervise the work (I employed my own labour and equipment) to dig up the pipeline, inside and outside my compound. What I saw there was a dreadful mess. The original galvanised iron pipe connection, joining the 6 inch Asbestos main pipe line which ran parallel to the road, to the house (estimated to be at least 60 years old) was so badly corroded that it was severed many years ago and an alternative arrangement made (at least 40 years ago), using another galvanised iron pipe which was connected to the 6 inches water main line, from a point near a Fire Hydrant further up the road. Even this second pipeline was badly corroded and leaking into the ground. All these pipelines had valves on them which were buried into the ground, the purpose of which was not known.

After the job was done, to the satisfaction of the Water Department engineers and supervisors, I was assured that water will flow into my domestic tanks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a few hours to give me sufficient quantity for my domestic use. This morning I looked at a pitiful trickle of water which will probably fill about 20 litres into my domestic tank before it stops again and I will have to wait for another trickle in two days time.

This is not good news, but the worse news I heard from the Water Department staff was the fact that the department was actually contemplating to impose a legal fine of a large sum of money to all house holds who have fitted and are using bore holes, because they are taping into natural resources unlawfully, which belong to the government. On top of the bore hole fine, the bore hole water consumption was expected to be metered and charged by the Water Department. We know very well who is squandering government resources illegally, but nothing is done about it. Considering that the people of Mombasa had no alternative supply of water, they had to spend money (at least KSh200,000/- to dig up the bore hole, and another KSh. 40,000/- for the pump, and may be a desalination plant is also added to the investment, plus the cost of annual maintenance). All this expense is made just to cover up the mistakes of the Water Department. Granted that the use of boreholes does pose a danger of the ground subsiding when the water table is lowered, so this should give the water department an impetus to repair the 36 inch pipelines and other piping systems which carry water from the various sources outside, into Mombasa.

Another horrow story I heard from the Water Department staff was the case of mixing fresh water suppiy with sewage, as the two pipelines ran parallel, very close to each other, and both pipelines got fractured (may be after a large truck with heavy load drove over them) and the resulting leakages flooded the wrong pipes. It took both the Mombasa Municipality and the Water Department a long time to locate the fractures, considering that the laying of the two piping systems are not well documented. Cholera was the first thing that came to mind, and goodness knows what else.

Kind regards.

Captn. M.M. Ittiso,