Betty Kyallo's restaurant, "The Summer House" to be closed, Karen residents protest over loud noise

The Summer House Restaurant

Karen people in Nairobi have complained that The Summer House, a restaurant owned by TV star Betty Kyallo, is too loud.

 

Governor Johnson Sakaja has already closed eight clubs in Nairobi for making noise in residential areas.

 

The Karen Lang'ata District Association sent a letter to the Nairobi City County Government on November 25 about how unhappy the people in the neighborhood were with The Summer House.

 

According to them, the restaurant has put nearby residents through hardship and suffering by playing loud music late at night.

 
The head of the association, Silalteh Samora, asked the county government to quickly close the restaurant and take away any permits or licenses the owner had.
 

 

On November 18, the eatery, which has been operating for about three months, first debuted. At the unveiling, there were many important people, such as members of the first family, football players MacDonald Mariga and his brother Victor Wanyama, and former Lang'ata MP Nixon Korir.
 

"The Summer House, which opened to the public two months ago, broke the law when they tried to build on the land without following the right steps," the chairperson said.

The group says that neither the National Environmental Management Authority nor the county government have changed the land from residential to commercial use.
Before the entertainment venue was built, the group also says, there were no public meetings where locals could say what they thought.

"No public notice concerning the summer house construction was published in any daily publication," the statement reads.

Last month, the Lang'ata Forest Edge Residents Organization (Lafera), which is part of the Karen Lang'ata Residents' Association, filed a complaint through Kiarie, Joshua & Co. Advocates, saying that the restaurant doesn't meet the zoning policy's goals for the area's aesthetic value.

 
Lafera handed the county government's director of environment a seven-day warning to shut down the eatery or face legal action.

 
In a letter from October 19, it says, "Please take notice that our client's unchangeable instructions are to file the petition under a certificate of urgency before the Environment and Land Court seeking the appropriate orders compelling you to carry out your statutory functions."

Mr. Sakaja told nightclubs that play loud music in neighborhoods to turn down the volume at 10 p.m. on Friday.

Over the weekend, police and county government officials in Nairobi ran an operation to make sure that the order was followed.

The team said it had found that some clubs had ignored the governor's order, so their licenses had been taken away.

Some of the nightclubs that had their licenses taken away were 1824, Club 909, CK Club, X Millionaires Club, Oyster Bay, Edu's Bar, Pitstop Grill, and Claret Lounge.