Demolition of St. Jude Highrise Subparish
by Patrick Ng’etich - Human Rights Department
It was on 29th April 2010 at around half past one when a bulldozer from the city council of Nairobi brought down the church building. The parish bought a piece of land from an adjacent block known as C3. When we intervened, the city council said they had issued a notice to all illegal structures surrounding the block to be removed. The church officials were not aware of the notice and that made it difficult. We went to the Ministry of Lands to find out how the structure could be illegal while the piece of land belongs to the church. The council said that the structure was temporary and the plan had not been approved. With the letter that was presented, it was aggraded that a semi permanent house could be constructed as the church waited for the title deed. As at now, the church has requested the council to give a license for a temporary tent till the issue is solved.
The situation has brought indeed several challenges to the faithful in the sub parish but at the same time a grate opportunity to be united and encouraged to build their both temples: the spiritual and the material one.