Kibera happy with cleaner slums

One month after they were deployed in Kibera to carry out a clean-up, the National Youth Service (NYS) personnel are slowly becoming a darling of the residents who now appreciate the work they are doing.

When the Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru sent out the 675 officers to the slum, which is characterised by its unhygienic environment, the political class from the opposition Cord was up in arms.
The politicians called for their immediate withdrawal, saying the move was suspect and that the opposition leaders had not been consulted. The minister did not bulge.

A number of residents the Sunday Nation spoke to narrated how their lives have changed for the better in the last four weeks the boys and girls in uniform have been there. The residents also admitted that they misunderstood the youths’ mandate when they first arrived.

“They have unclogged the drainage systems and now our children can find playing grounds,” Ms Linet Atieno, a resident of Karanja and mother of three, said on Friday.

In an area known for “flying toilets” due to scarcity of the facilities, the NYS is also constructing community toilets that they will hand over to the locals at the end of the three months they will be stationed there.

The officers are also helping locals acquire entrepreneurial skills as many women and youths have been hired to work together with the NYS.
In their estimation, even the crime rate has gone down over the same period.

“Youths are kept busy; we have seen a reduction in criminal activities here because the engagement with the NYS has offered the youths a source of livelihood,” Mr Yusuf Abu Hamza, a sheikh at Makini Mosque, told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Hamza asked the minister to ensure the trend continues even after the NYS withdraws.

“It will not make much difference if, after all these efforts, we only end up where we were. I hope there is a plan for sustainability,” he said.

“The new NYS is passionate about improving the living environment in our towns. NYS will deploy graduates in informal settlements across the country to carry out various activities such as garbage clean-up through the “Taka ni Pato” model,” Ms Waiguru said the day the officers were deployed in Kibera.

The servicemen and women are involved in general cleaning, civil works, drainage construction and improving sewer facilities.

President Uhuru Kenyatta recently unveiled a new-look NYS that is a complete departure from what it has been for the last 50 years. The new arrangement even has a revolving fund that will help the graduates start up businesses.

“At NYS Work Camp, the 227,670 youths will make a mandatory saving of Sh100 per day deposited in a squad account.”

The collective account is what will bond the squad. Each cohort of 21,870 servicemen will reach 227,670 youths per half year. The purpose of the squad is to provide social collateral,” says one of the documents prepared by the ministry.

The document also acknowledges that since about 20,000 new recruits will be trained annually, there is a need for a plan to absorb them once they are through with training so they do not become a danger to the society the programme aims to secure.

“We cannot churn out an army of 21,870 each year, without creating a system of command and control. This system is created through a proposed regimentation plan that borrows from the military. In our proposed plan, the lowest level of regimentation is a squad headed by a sergeant or lance-sergeant. 

“The squad should have a maximum of 15 recruits. A total of 729 squads are expected twice a year. And this is what adds up to 10,935 recruits every half year, and 21,870 every year,” the plan says.

Some youths will also be used to secure non-strategic government installations and VIP driving, a move Ms Waiguru says will free police officers engaged in such assignments.

A conversion training module will be carried out by KDF and the Kenya Police Service for those absorbed into the forces.
Other youths will be involved in dam and road construction and vector control.