Mombasa: President Ruto’s Housing Project Stalls, Now Breeding Ground for Reptiles

An affordable housing project in Mombasa, which President William Ruto conducted its groundbreaking, is yet to start, one and a half years on and has ever since been abandoned.

The expansive 8 acres field where about 2,000 affordable housing units of 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom were to be built is now filled with vegetation and has turned to a breeding ground for reptiles and other land creatures.

The ground breaking of the project dubbed Mzizima affordable-housing-phase-1, located next to the Kenya Medical Training College in Tononoka area, was done on November 2, 2023, by President Ruto.

This was evident during a site visit to the field on Friday, May 23, 2025 by members of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Roads and Housing during a fact-finding mission on the project implementation.

The MPs led by the committee chairperson, Senator Eddy Okech of Migori were caught in disbelief and shock after establishing that only a cement plaque bearing the date of the groundbreaking was upright between growing vegetation, a clear indication of an abandoned project.

“We want to know the fate of the residents who were evicted, has their interested been factored that’s our biggest interest. Is there dignity of their lives,” said Okech who was flanked by other senators of the committee.

Expressing their dissatisfaction, the legislators vowed to summon the housing principal secretary, Mombasa county governor Abdulswamad Nassir and the contractors and the affected residents to shed more light on the matter.

“We are not happy because if you look at this Mzizima project, there is no progress, we must question the responsible people what the problem really is, we must establish what’s going on and the fate of those who were evicted, “said Okech.

The Likoni estate and Buxton two are still under construction. The committee now wants to know whether the people who were affected got their right to own a house. The committee also wants to establish whether the owners of the Buxton housing project whether they are the real tenants who were evicted.