Hamdi Driss was asleep with her eight children at their home in Kisumu on Monday morning when a loud bang at the door jolted them awake.
She ignored the first knock, assuming it was a neighbour. But when the banging resumed, someone forced the door open by inserting a crowbar into the padlock.
“I was shocked to see them. They were heavily built men armed with crude weapons. When I asked why they were forcing their way into my house, they told me to let them do their work,” she says, breaking down in tears.
Residents secure their belongings after an abrupt eviction at Teleposta Pension Scheme flats in Kisumu on October 19, 2026. Eighteen of the estate’s 44 housing units were affected by the exercise.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
When she tried to make a phone call, one of the men allegedly snatched the gadget. She further alleges that the men harassed her and touched her inappropriately before ordering the family out.
“They asked me to leave together with my children. They started removing our belongings, including the bed, seats and refrigerator,” she said.
Outside, Driss found other residents gathered beside mattresses, furniture and household appliances hauled from their homes at Posta Flats, near United Mall in Kisumu Central.
She says she had lived in the estate for more than a decade and had already paid her rent for October.
“I had paid this month’s rent. They could at least have given us two days’ notice,” she says.
Among those affected was a 16-year-old Form Three student at Bunyore Girls High School, who had returned home for the school holiday only to find her family’s belongings scattered outside their house.
“I was shocked. As soon as I entered the gate, I saw families trying to salvage their belongings after being forced out of their homes. I did not know what to say or where we would go,” she says.
Joseph Iswekha, a pensioner, estate secretary and village elder, speaks during their eviction at Teleposta Pension Scheme flats in Kisumu on October 19, 2026. He said the affected residents were excluded when other units were offered for sale in 2007 and 2008.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
More than 80 people were affected by the October 19, eviction, according to Joseph Iswekha, the estate secretary and village elder, who says residents were caught unprepared despite years of uncertainty surrounding the property.
“Armed men accompanied by police officers arrived with a list of residents to be evicted. They forced their way into the houses, removed our belongings and harassed tenants. We were not given any notice, and some residents were beaten,” he says.
The eviction comes amid a protracted legal battle over the seven-acre property in Kisumu’s central business district, which the Court of Appeal ruled belonged to the Telposta Pension Scheme in March 2025.
Although the judgment settled the ownership dispute between the scheme and Kisumu County Government, questions remain about the circumstances surrounding Monday’s eviction.
Residents say they received no notice, and it has not been established whether a specific court order authorised their removal.
Mr Iswekha says the estate comprised 44 residential units, 28 of which were sold in the late 2000s. The remaining units, including those in blocks B8, C, D, E and G, were excluded from the sale after residents were told the buildings stood on a road reserve.
“We were told that some blocks were on a road reserve, which is why we were not given the opportunity to buy the houses,” he says.
Residents secure their belongings after an abrupt eviction at Teleposta Pension Scheme flats in Kisumu on October 19, 2026. Eighteen of the estate’s 44 housing units were affected by the exercise.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
Residents continued paying rent, but changes in rent collection arrangements eventually left them uncertain about whom they should pay, according to Mr Iswekha.
He says the dispute escalated in 2011 when auctioneers were brought to the estate, prompting residents to seek court intervention. They obtained a stay order pending the determination of the case, he says, but were not subsequently notified of Monday’s operation.
“We have never received notice of this eviction. We want to know why people were removed from their homes without warning,” he says.
The Joel Omino ECDE Centre School in Kisumu Central, which was completed recently, now lies in ruins following its demolition by unknown individuals on October 19, 2026.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
The available accounts do not establish whether the stay order remained in force at the time of the eviction or whether another court order authorised the operation.
The dispute over the property dates back decades, when the land was owned by the former Kisumu Municipal Council.
The council surrendered its title deed to the Commissioner of Lands in 1968 to facilitate the excision of part of the property for a road extension. The land was subsequently transferred to the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC) in 1980.
The municipal council later challenged the transfer, alleging fraud. In 2002, KPTC transferred the property to the Telposta Pension Scheme, which surveyed and subdivided it into 49 parcels, selling some before the dispute reached court.
In 2007, the municipal council filed a suit against the pension scheme, the Kisumu Lands Registry, the government and 15 purchasers, challenging the transfer and subsequent transactions.
The High Court ruled in 2019 that the pension scheme was the legitimate owner. Kisumu County Government appealed, arguing that the transfer had been irregular.
In a judgment delivered on March 28, 2025, the Court of Appeal dismissed the county’s appeal, finding that it had failed to establish fraud in the transfer.
“Consequently, having failed to establish its claim over the suit land, the appellant’s claim for damages for trespass fell by the wayside. The appeal is for dismissal, and we hereby dismiss it,” the judges ruled.
Residents secure their belongings after an abrupt eviction at Teleposta Pension Scheme flats in Kisumu on October 19, 2026. Eighteen of the estate’s 44 housing units were affected by the exercise.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
The court also found that the surrender of the land in 1980 had been lawful, noting that a commission appointed to manage the municipal council’s affairs had the powers to exercise the council’s functions.
Following the judgment, the pension scheme said it was free to proceed with sales and development plans that had been stalled by the litigation.
“The upshot of the foregoing is that the ODM Party and any other party who has been occupying the scheme’s premises must now vacate,” the scheme said in a statement after the ruling.
The decision was expected to affect several occupants of the property, including the Orange Democratic Movement, whose party offices are located on the land.
While the judgment affirmed the pension scheme’s ownership rights, the information available does not establish the specific legal authority or procedures relied upon during Monday’s eviction at Posta Flats.
The eviction follows the overnight demolition of a church and an Early Childhood Development (ECD) classroom on the wider property.
The Joel Omino ECDE Centre School in Kisumu Central, which was completed recently, now lies in ruins following its demolition by unknown individuals on October 19, 2026.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
An elder at Morphat Atichi Christian Fellowship Church said a security guard called him at about 3am on Saturday to report that bulldozers were demolishing the church.
“Musical equipment and seats were destroyed. The church hosted up to 300 congregants,” he says.
Next to the church stood the Joel Omimo Door Stand-Alone ECD Centre, a public facility that served 24 children, comprising 14 boys and 10 girls.
Centre manager Felister Wanjiru says she received a call at about 5 am informing her that the school had been demolished.
“When I arrived, I found church members trying to remove their property,” she says.
Some chairs, tables and cupboards were damaged, forcing staff to salvage the remaining items and move them to another school for safety.
More than 80 residents at Posta Flats in Kisumu Central were abruptly forced out of their homes during a violent dawn raid by armed men carrying a list of names.
Photo credit: Nation Graphics
Kisumu City Manager Fred Mariwa said the city had neither authorised the demolition nor issued a demolition certificate.
“One cannot simply wake up one day and demolish a structure that belongs to the public. This was, and remains, county property,” Mr Mariwa said.
The demolition is suspected to be linked to attempts by business interests to clear the land for commercial containers, although those behind the operation had not been identified by the time of publication.
Florence Ojwang, the Kisumu Central Sub-County Education Coordinator, said the affected children would have to be placed in alternative centres as the relevant departments considered the way forward.
