The Standard: December 17, 2006
Quality housing has always been a challenge for State corporations but Kenya Railways Corporation was different. Lillian Aluanga writes on the houses of Kenya Railways that were once the envy of many but slowly went down the drain.
A bare-chested man in khaki shorts heaves as he pushes a wheelbarrow filled with cement, making his way towards a block of partially complete houses.
Kenya Railways put up the Muthurwa flats to replace the infamous Landhies houses that had been in place since the early 1950s. These were meant to replace the one-roomed structures that were too small for families.
In the background, a long row of freshly painted houses stand behind neatly trimmed hedges and canopies of trees. Gravel pathways and flower-beds lead up to the houses, each with a huge litter bin outside.
There appears to be a flurry of activity in the compound as excited tenants troop into the pristine structures, laden with furniture, bedding and utensils. They appear eager to settle into their new homes, free of the burden of having to find accommodation in the city.
Elsewhere, a group of men in immaculate pin stripe suits and Stetsons shake hands and smile as they cut a long ribbon tied around a pillar, signalling the opening of a housing estate.
The corporation’s housing estates
These are just a few of the dozens of still scenes stored in stacks of files that line dusty shelves in an office located at the now defunct Kenya Railways headquarters in Nairobi. Though old, the pictures, pasted on manila sheets and stacked in large files, still bear traces of quality camera work.
But these are not just another stack of old pictures taken at a time when digital cameras were just but a mirage. They are pictures that carry a significant part of the defunct corporation’s history. These still black and white images carry precious memories of what was once the pride of Kenya Railways employees: the corporation’s housing estates.
From Nairobi to Kisumu, Mombasa and all the stations nestled along the steely snake’s path — at Sultan Hamud, Voi, Mwatate, Njoro, Nanyuki, Gilgil, Malaba and Eldoret — housing units put up by the then East African Railways and Harbours Corporation, were a difficult thing to miss.
With their picturesque compounds, the freshly painted houses had neat hedges and well tended flowerbeds. They stood out among many and were at one point some of the most sought after living quarters in the country.
Years of mismanagement
Middle-level workers of Kenya Railways had houses contructed for them in Makongeni Estate during the early ‘1970s and continue to occupy them.
But things have changed.
Years of mismanagement saw operations at the Kenya Railways Corporation chug to a halt, culminating in the take over, last month, by the Rift Valley Railways Company.
What was once the picture of excellence and shining examples of housing projects put up by organisations for their employees crumbled and fell into disrepair following years of neglect. Dozens of others fell into the hands of greedy government officials and were sold at a pittance. Later years they would be resold by their owners for astronomical amounts of money.
But it wasn’t just officials of the corporation and their cronies in Government that were to blame for the woes that befell the corporations’ estates. Tenants, desperate to make a quick buck, sub-let the houses to those that were searching for affordable accommodation. With time, the porches and verandas of railway quarters houses in Muthurwa disappeared and were replaced with iron sheet structures. These extra rooms were referred to as ‘extensions’, which the tenants of the main houses rented out.
Houses grabbed by unscrupulous individuals
The flowerbeds and driveways were not spared as they were swallowed up by kiosks.
Burst sewers, deplorable sanitation and insecurity plagued most of the corporation’s estates situated along Jogoo Road, dashing the dreams of thousands who had grown to love their little havens.
Those that were spared the discomfort of burst sewers and marauding gangs in the upmarket areas of the city were grabbed by unscrupulous individuals and quickly disposed off, leaving families out in the cold.
Decades later, pockets of the corporations’ housing estates remain in various parts of the country, but many are a far cry from their glory years.
There was a time when things were different — a time when those working for the corporation were assured of getting years of quality housing.
In those days, huge tracts of land that today make up Upperhill, Ngara, South B, Industrial Area and parts of Jogoo Road were largely owned by the Kenya Railways Corporation.
Houses allocated along racial lines
In Mombasa, the corporation was said to own almost half of the Industrial area, while in Kisumu, most of the land around lake Victoria was Railways property.
"Kenya Railways was a wealthy employer and owned a lot of land. Land next to the railway belonged to the corporation and no one could dare put up any structure within a specified distance to the tracks," Omondi, a former Kenya Railways employee said.
Omondi, an elderly man in his late 70s, recalls working for the corporation for more than 30 years. This was the period when one’s colour determined which part of the city he would be allowed to live in.
Government policy during the colonial era demanded that estates be mapped out and allocated along racial lines.
It was these guidelines that were used by the then East African Railways and Harbours Corporation to allocate houses to their employees and led Omondi to Muthurwa Estate in the 50s.
Houses categorised into two classes
Nyalenda Estate owned by the Kenya Railways is no longer a preserve of the corporation’s employees.
Africans and Asians mainly occupied the Eastlands area in Nairobi while the upmarket areas in Westlands, Lavington, Hurlingham and Kileleshwa were reserved for Europeans.
Houses provided for the corporation’s employees were categorised into two classes. Class 1-3 houses were occupied by senior staff, while Classes 4-6 type of houses were for junior employees.
Usually, Class 1-3 houses were larger in size and even had spacious compounds compared to those in the second category, which ranged anywhere from the ‘Landies’ (long block of small housing units with communal bathrooms and toilets) to two bed-room flats.
"You could never find an African living in Parklands or Ngara or an Asian or European living in Muthurwa. The situation only changed after we got our independence and Africans and Asians moved into areas that were previously for Europeans," Omondi says.
It was convenience for corporation to build houses
Muthurwa traces its origins to 1937. At the time it was put up to house African employees and was known as the Nairobi Native Location.
With its closeness to the city centre and the railway tracks, Muthurwa was considered ideal for the African workers.
Building houses for its employees to save on topping up their salary with house allowance wasn’t the only reason that drove Kenya Railways to put up houses for its workers. Convenience also played a key role.
"The company wanted its workers, especially those who could be summoned to work at any time, to live closer to the office and railway line," Omondi said.
For instance signal operators, drivers, and ‘gang men’ (staff who worked on the railway line) lived in Muthurwa and the not too far, Land Mawe and Makongeni estates. All the three estates were located just a few kilometres from the city centre and were occupied by Africans.
Europeans, who were mainly in top-level management of the corporation, occupied spacious homes in the Kileleshwa, Hurlingham, Upperhill and Parklands. Ngara and Pangani were, according to Government policy, reserved for Asians and it is here that the corporation’s employees of Asian descent were housed.
Railway Club was meant for European employees
Omondi recalled a time when the site on which Pangani Girls School stands was once occupied by Kenya Railways staff quarters.
Not too far from the houses, Asian and Goan employees could relax with their families and while their time away at the exclusive Asian and Goan clubs in the area.
The present day Railway Club along Nairobi’s Haile Selaisse Avenue was meant for the European employees, given that their homes were located in what was then Nairobi South area.
The area had cosy homes that had tiled roofs, wooden floors, a lounge, three bedrooms, dining room, and kitchen.
Today, this area is known as South B. An employee’s cadre and grade largely determined where he would live and which category of houses he would get.
Given the nature of their work, station-masters often did not live too far from their places of work. Their houses, in those days, were simple but comfortable as exemplified by the one time timber and sisal roofing structures that dotted the Kiu Station along the Nairobi-Mombasa route.
Employees had to apply for houses
Elsewhere at the Gilgil Station, senior Asian staffers were housed in what were referred to as ‘Artisan Quarters’. They mainly were painters and mechanics. The houses were put up in 1949, 12 years after those of Kiu. Present day Kisulisuli Estate in Nakuru traces its formative years to 1918 when it was referred to as the ‘Lake Native Location’, while the corporation’s Landie type houses in Kisumu trace their origin to 1915.
Getting a house, especially for those employees stationed in big towns such as Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, was not easy, given that one had to make an application and wait for a response from the housing department of the corporation.
The application would then be considered on the basis of one’s service to the corporation and grade. Those sent to work in smaller towns dotting the railway line, however, had an easier time given that they weren’t too many housing alternatives.
"The smaller stations were slightly different from those located in larger towns. Since the corporation did not want the employees to live too far from the station, it made sure that they all got accommodated there," Omondi said.
Cleanliness was taken seriously
Houses in Kisumu and Mombasa, according to the elderly man, were more spacious.
"Maybe they gave them larger houses and compounds because those places are very hot," he said.
Even though housing was free, employees were required to pay their own water and electricity bills.
Cleanliness within the staff quarters was taken seriously. There was staff to clean communal bathrooms and toilets in the lower income housing projects.
To minimise disease outbreaks, all drains and houses were frequently sprayed and a superintendent was at hand to check that this was done.
Houses were painted and repairs of broken window panes and doors made as soon as the occupant filed a report with the maintenance department. Mugging and robbery were almost unheard of within railway quarters given the stringent security checks and screening of all visitors to the compounds housing the corporation’s employees.
Omondi recalled a time when things were so good that the corporation put up cottages in Mombasa, where employees could take their families on vacation.
"There was a time when the houses were only for Europeans and Asians but in later years African employees were also allowed to use them," he said.
Rest houses were also a common feature in ‘out stations’ where employees who were seconded to the smaller stations could be housed for several days.
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