How Eastleigh became a commercial hub

[Saqajaan]

How Eastleigh became a commercial hub

 

Jul 27th, 2008 | By Admin | Category: Black Medley News

When the British colonialists established an airbase at Eastleigh, little did they know that it would grow into a huge commercial gateway.It has since evolved into a “Dubai” of East Africa, where cheap imports are accessible.

 

Today, the dry ‘free’ inland port attracts traders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda.

 

Eastleigh was first allowed to accommodate Africans between 1910 and 1914. Initially, Asians who established shops and other micro-businesses dominated the area.

 

Colonial documents

 

A glance through colonial documents shows Eastleigh was used by authorities to house Asians employed by Government.

 

On February 21, 1957, Parkash Dai wrote an application to the Government offering her flat in Eastleigh to accommodate some Asian workers.

 

“Every flat has its own cooker, basin and sink. The kitchen is spacious and the baths have cold and hot showers. The building is not far from Eastleigh Bus Park and primary and secondary school,” wrote the landlord.

 

The Secretary of Asian Housing Accommodation Committee PJ Jansz, after sending some inspectors to the premises, was not impressed.

 

He responded: “There are no “boy’s quarters” (servant quarters) serving all the six flats. The plaster is poorly finished and the floor has cracks. The committee does not find the place suitable.”

 

Even though Europeans did not live in the area, some enterprising residents bought the land for speculative purposes.

 

Unpaid rates

 

On June 24, 1928, C.H Broomfield caused a major furore after Nairobi Council sold his plot over unpaid rates, which totalled Sh306.

 

In protest, the investor complained that he had bought the plot number 93 in Eastleigh section 111 in 1921 for a princely sum of Sh1000 and that he had not been informed about the auction.

 

Contesting that the Government had all along known that he had been residing in Entebbe for 15 years, he was demanding that he be compensated with an alternative plot.

 

His petition was however dismissed after the District Commissioner for Nairobi was cleared of any wrongdoing.

 

At this time, there was clear distinction between Europeans, Asians and Africans who were ranked in that order in the social ladder.

 

It was undesirable for races to stay in the same region and Africans were condemned to the poverty-ravaged estates.

 

Mau Mau upheavals

 

The colonial government strictly monitored who resided in Eastleigh because the area accommodated a vital facility, the Royal Air force Airbase, Eastleigh. The facility, which acted as the gateway to East Africa by air played an important role during the Mau Mau upheavals in 1950s.

 

It was from this facility that the bombers flew as they went over the Aberdare and Mt Kenya forests in search of Mau Mau freedom fighters, who had made the colony ungovernable.

 

However due to its proximity to the fast growing city and its high elevations coupled with its short runaway, which was only 7900 feet, some jet fighters and bombers had to use the nearby Embakasi Airport.

 

According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, in 1954, the East African School of aviation, run by the Kenya civil Aviation Authority was established at the air port which has since been renamed, Moi Airbase.

 

Due to its military status, the airport does not feature in any official map of Nairobi.

 

At the height of the Mau Mau uprising, the Asians started migrating in 1955 as they moved from Eastleigh towards Westlands and Parklands.

 

After independence, the exodus was complete as the Kikuyu who bought the plots replaced Asian landlords.

 

Even then, there were remnants of Somalis who had all along remained in Eastleigh and actually owned plots in there.

 

Sixty-five-year-old Hussein Roba explains that he bought his plots and house in 1975 for Sh320,000. “The house is situated on 9th street on Second Avenue and comprises of eight big rooms, five kitchens and two bath rooms,” Roba says.

 

He recalls that in the olden days, Africans were not allowed to live in Eastleigh, which was reserved for Asians and Somalis. Some Ethiopians whose country was free by then were free to live in the area as they ranked higher in the social ladder than Africans.

 

He says the Asians migrated from Eastleigh after independence for they feared that neighbouring slums such as Mathare would extend to the estate.

 

In 1973, Roba says rent for a single room was Sh300 in the area. At this time, most of the buildings in the area had tin walls and none was more than one floor since this contravened the building plans then.

 

A researcher, Mr Steve Githiaka, in a thesis published last year in pursuit of a diploma by the Institute of Surveyors of Kenya, states that in its formative stages, a member of Nairobi municipal council, G.P Stevens and three other residents and backers from South Africa, bought land and contractually undertook to construction of seven miles of frontage streets and fourteen miles of lanes and water supply.

 

The project was later abandoned and the land sold an Indian businessman, Alidina Visram.

 

According to Roba, Somalis and Ethiopians at one point, used to visit Eastleigh to get famine relief supplies.

 

Eastleigh’s genesis as a textile hub for the country started by mistake, according to some residents.

 

At the height of the Somali crisis in the 1990s, a number of refugees desperate for shelter huddled in an unassuming hotel room, Garissa Lodge.

 

When the Somali refugees were soon followed by Ethiopians and Eritrean refugees on the run from clashes in their own countries, Eastleigh changed.

 

While Somalis went on a real estate buying spree, the Ethiopians concentrated on buying matatus, which now ply the route.

 

The researcher indicates that it was at this point that there was massive buyout of Kenyans by Somalis, a phenomena which saw the rents rise from Sh2500 to Sh.10,000.

 

“Since they had no money to book individual rooms, they just wanted space to sleep. At times, as many as 20 refugees shared one room. One refugee received a container of clothes ad started selling from the room,” explains Roba.

 

Mr Izack Mohammed says the idea soon gained currency, as refugees would flock into the room to buy clothes at wholesale and later resell them.

 

Necessitated by poverty, some of the lodgers at Garissa lodge converted their rooms into shops during the day and living quarters at night.

 

That is how Garissa lodge, the password for Eastleigh shopping malls evolved.

 

Currently, Garissa lodge stands for the entire First Avenue and with the rapid expansion of the business premises to the residential area, the term will soon be used for the whole estate.

 

By Amos Kareithi and Cyrus Kinyungu

 

www.Blackmedley.com

[Saqajaan]

"He recalls that in the olden days, Africans were not allowed to live in Eastleigh, which was reserved for Asians and Somalis. Some Ethiopians whose country was free by then were free to live in the area as they ranked higher in the social ladder than Africans"

 

I found this the most fascinating, how pathetic are africans that they were treated as second class citizens in their own country.

 

It's too bad, somali's can't get their act together. We could be running the whole of east africa.