City Hall officials last night brought down Pimp My Ride car wash barely a month after it was first demolished. The owner of the premise, Mr Nderitu, had sought court intervention but a Nairobi court on Wednesday declined to stop the impending demolition and directed the businessman to file and serve the respondents with his application and appear in court Thursday for further directions.
“That unless the court urgently intervenes, the applicants are apprehensive that their investment and hard work will end up being ruined thereby occasioning them irreparable loss and damages,” Mr Nderitu had urged in an affidavit.
The business premises, situated at the corner of Kenyatta Avenue and Muindi Bingu Street on June 2 had been served with a seven-day enforcement notice by the county government indicating that the ongoing construction was illegal.
Upon the expiry of the notice on 9th July, the owner rushed to court on Tuesday to seek help over the impending demolition, but the court declined. Although Mr Nderitu claimed that he has all the validations for the business, including approvals and building permits from the county government itself, he had cold feet over the foreseeable twist of events
In May this year, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was recorded threatening the car wash business, as it was sitting on a piece of land that did not have approval and would be brought down. True to his words, City Hall officials arrived at the establishment one early morning and commenced their demolitions, claiming that they were acting on the direction of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
Pimp My Ride Owner and workers reported today to the premise only to find the structure completely flattened. On that same piece of land sat the popular Simmers club which was equally brought down close to a year ago.
“The demolition happened at night at around 11 pm when most of us had left. We came in the morning to find some of the things stolen as they could not be secured. We do not know why this has happened,” an anonymous worker said.
While he sought a straining order to stop the government from demolishing his property, Mr Nderitu had asserted that the impending demolitions would be carried out on the basis of personal vendetta.
