Kibera upgrading project: Let us not throw out baby with the bath water
What you need to know:
- The land is often public, the structures (those mud hovels do not qualify to be called houses) are privately owned, thanks to deals between area chiefs and landlords, and the residents are tenants who pay rents ranging from between 500 to 3,000 shillings.
- Those who read me know that I am not a big fan of the Jubilee administration, but this particular programme seemed to be hitting all the right cords by targeting the poorest and most marginalised groups.
- If the NYS improves the infrastructure and environment of all of Kenya’s impoverished neighbourhoods in both urban and rural areas, then this will be more than any politician or NGO has done in the past 50 years.
A few years ago, when Kibera was viewed as one of Nairobi’s “must-see” tourism sites, and when hordes of do-gooders, ranging from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to comedian Chris Rock, were descending on the slum to show solidarity with the city’s downtrodden, I had the opportunity to spend time with the residents there.
My visits to Kibera were not acts of charity; they were fact-finding missions. I was gathering information for UN-Habitat, where I worked, and which was embarking on a major slum upgrading project with the government.
Slum upgrading in Nairobi, I was to learn, is not a straightforward task because a variety of actors have to be consulted. The land is often public, the structures (those mud hovels do not qualify to be called houses) are privately owned, thanks to deals between area chiefs and landlords, and the residents are tenants who pay rents ranging from between 500 to 3,000 shillings.
All interests have to be taken into account, which makes slum upgrading in Nairobi a complicated and politically charged affair.
ALL THE RIGHT
Kibera residents will tell you that theirs is a community that is vibrant, hopeful, and innovative. Indeed, I have never witnessed levels of resilience and entrepreneurship as I have in what was once known as the biggest slum in Africa (until the 2009 census found that the slum hosted only about 200,000 people, not one million, as estimated by international aid agencies, including UN-Habitat).
However, the one memory of Kibera that lingers in my mind is the smell. Raw sewage, polluted water puddles, clogged or non-existent drains, and pit latrines shared by as many as 100 people are defining features of Nairobi’s slums, which have been categorised as some of the most unsanitary and unsafe in the world.
I was, therefore, pleased to learn about the Kibera upgrading project envisioned by the revamped National Youth Service under the Ministry of Devolution. Those who read me know that I am not a big fan of the Jubilee administration, but this particular programme seemed to be hitting all the right chords by targeting the poorest and most marginalised groups.
STROKE OF GENIUS
Not only is the slum receiving a much-needed upgrade, but the task of upgrading and improving it falls on the National Youth Service, a government-funded institution that seeks to train and give meaningful employment and a sense of purpose to hundreds of thousands of idle and unemployed youth.
Politically, the revamping of the NYS was a stroke of genius — the government taps into a politically important age group that makes up the majority of the country’s population and also gains a loyal and sizeable voting bloc in the next election.
I do not know if Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru had anything to do with the alleged or attempted theft of NYS funds.
I cannot say if the prim and proper head prefect-like Waiguru, who has so far evaded the kinds of scandals bedevilling some of her fellow Cabinet secretaries, is corrupt.
The facts of the case will, I hope, be known in due time. Once they are, I hope the culprits will be brought to book.
However, we must not confuse the aims of this programme with the corruption that surrounds it. Politicians must not use the residents of Kibera to score political points.
OPPORTUNITY TO STEAL
Calling for the disbanding of the Kibera upgrading programme would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
For their part, Kibera residents must not allow themselves to be used as pawns by politicians who have failed to deliver a single toilet to their slum.
Kibera attracts millions of shillings in aid, through NGOs, charities, and other organisations that claim to be helping Nairobi’s poor but whose record speaks for itself.
If the NYS improves the infrastructure and environment of all of Kenya’s impoverished neighbourhoods in both urban and rural areas, then this will be more than any politician or NGO has done in the past 50 years.
My fear is that Kenya’s greedy and unscrupulous land grabbers may view the Kibera upgrading programme as an opportunity to steal more land, which is why providing the security of tenure should be part of the programme.
